As a hiring manager, I have a good idea what a typical student learns in 4-5 years of a STEM degree at a public university -- or at a well regarded non-profit private university. There is a great deal of consistency in that applicant pool.

The people with degrees from for-profit universities (online or in-person) just don't measure up in the handful of cases where I've done a screening interview.

Exceptions must exist, as with anything on DCUM.

I posted about these schools a couple years ago and DCUM said these schools would be a fad or that they’re just as much of a degree as others.

I was stunned reading that article in the WP yesterday.

Anonymous wrote:Washington Post Gift article on the growing trend of online students earning college degrees in much, much less than 4 years. I think I agree with the person quoted in the article as saying there should be a different name for these than Bachelors.

https://wapo.st/41Kjr5j

No one reputable takes those type of online degrees seriously.

The article needed to go into detail on HOW exactly people were getting thru the courses so quickly. That was not explained.

There have always been degree mills. This is why reputation of colleges matters so much - because our education system is fragmented. The way these are described do not seem to reflect college-level learning or achievement. I know of people who finished real college degrees very quickly but they almost always had prior studies and/ or were brilliant, taking many classes at a time in a regular classroom. The “degrees” described in these articles should not be eligible for federal financial aid.

Yes, really seems like a failure of the accreditors to recognize fraud.

The students are clearly using AI to do all their work. These online schools are turning a blind eye because they like the revenue stream

It was an interesting article, but I agree that I wouldn't call these bachelor's degrees. I do a lot of hiring and would never hire someone with this over someone with a traditional degree. It does sound a lot more like those professional trainings you have to go through on a topic like sexual harassment or workplace safety where there are recorded messages followed by a little quiz at the end to make sure you were paying attention. The fact that there are no class discussions is a huge difference, since a big part of the learning experience isn't just learning facts, but rather having ideas debated and having your opinion challenged. That actually mimics part of workplace life and helps to create useful interpersonal skills. This sounds like a utilitarian option for those who just have to have college in some form listed on their resume, but when you really look at it it's not at all the same education. I think it should be called a certificate rather than a degree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean now that everyone is doing two years of post-AP math in high school, why even go to college? What’s left to learn?

College is not for learning; its for finding a mate and a job

You can do those things online now too.

not the physical part of mating

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean now that everyone is doing two years of post-AP math in high school, why even go to college? What’s left to learn?

College is not for learning; its for finding a mate and a job

You can do those things online now too.

Anonymous wrote:I mean now that everyone is doing two years of post-AP math in high school, why even go to college? What’s left to learn?

College is not for learning; its for finding a mate and a job

I mean now that everyone is doing two years of post-AP math in high school, why even go to college? What’s left to learn?

There are online PhD in 9 months. What name do you want it to be?

Washington Post Gift article on the growing trend of online students earning college degrees in much, much less than 4 years. I think I agree with the person quoted in the article as saying there should be a different name for these than Bachelors.

https://wapo.st/41Kjr5j