College thoughts

Ed sent an email with an article by Mark Cuban about college.  It was a good read.  Here are some somewhat random thoughts based loosely on the article:

1) There is no doubt that college is a business.  It's very apparent in the military environment where all four military services provide 100% tuition to their members (I should add that the Navy has put its tuition assistance on hold due to the impending government budget cuts).  Colleges look at the military as a pool of free money.  I'm convinced that some universities, such as American Military University (AMU), make all of their money from government tuition assistance provided to military members.  That leads to my next point.

2) The problem with the current state of college education is that the desire to get a degree fast and cheap has led some institutions to prostitute themselves.  You guys all know that they are referred to as "degree mills" and you may have more experience with that than I do because of your work in the HR industry.  I read an article recently about HR execs in some of the major corporations in America and how they view degrees from certain schools.  And the answer is that in their minds, some degrees are garbage.  The one that comes immediately to mind is Phoenix University, which advertises heavily about the speed with which you can finish a degree.  They are a for-profit university, and that in and of itself says a lot.  I know a LOT of military people that attend AMU, and I feel sorry for them.  I've done my research and AMU does NOT have a good reputation among employers.

3)  Having said all of that, you have to consider for what your degree will be used.  My bachelors is from Excelsior College which doesn't have the best reputation in the world.  But it's accredited, and I basically wanted it to qualify for a Masters program and for Navy Officer programs.  "Accredited" was the only requirement for both of those desires.  Sometimes a degree is just the ticket that gets you into the dance.  For example, there are very talented musicians that are more than qualified to teach music.  However, you're never going to be considered for a music teaching position unless you have a degree in music.  It's like a prerequisite.

4)  Online learning is definitely HUGE right now, but I don't think brick and mortar schools will ever go away.  Having done my Masters degree online, I can say that there is an element of classroom learning that cannot be adequately simulated online, discussion boards be damned.  Interacting with 20-50 words on a discussion board is not the same as interacting in person.

5)  If nothing else, a college degree shows a persistence and dedication to something for a significant amount of time.  That's gotta be worth something.