Not altogether satisfactory
Written: Jun 16 '08 (Updated Jun 30 '08)
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Pros: The program is easily accessible, making a university degree an option for all.
Cons: Hidden costs;
Many of the teachers seem unqualified or uninterested in their work.
The Bottom Line: In terms of education and costs, I cannot recommend Capella unless all other options are closed to you, but you must have a university degree from an accredited institution.
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| entailment's Full Review: Capella University |
About my preliminary expectations:
I admit that I applied to this school only because NYU’s distance learning program, to which I had originally been accepted, was abruptly terminated, so my expectations of any program to which I applied were high.
I looked over the information and websites of the top five online universities, and chose Capella's program over its competitors, as their application form had the fewest typos, and their website looked more professional and credible.
Initial impression:
I was a bit troubled by Capella’s complete lack of initial screening; basically, anyone could enter. Although anyone who genuinely wants to take the time and effort to pursue a university degree should have the opportunity to do so, I did expect an institution charging Capella’s tuition rates to have a somewhat rigorous screening process; the complete lack of screening made me wonder how the classes would be set up to accommodate students of widely differing academic strength.
It also bothered me that, after paying the initial application/registration fees and the first semester's tuition, a multitude of not-so-little, and previously unmentioned fees continued to crop up, until I finally and specifically (to the point of seriously annoying the person with whom I spoke) asked if there were ANY further additional fees coming up, and was assured there were none: This turned out to be incorrect.
Finally, the fact that it was nearly impossible to get a reply to e-mail queries meant that the only contact was via telephone. There was an 800 number, fortunately, but it was nearly impossible to ask a question directly of the person most likely to have the required information, so getting an answer to a simple question could take several weeks and many phone calls. Also, as phone calls are usually undocumented, there is no way to substantiate what was said, unless the conversation is recorded. Many answering machines offer this option, and, just for your own records, you may want to consider doing so.
The program, the teachers, the classes:
The program begins with one or two classes that are required of all students in a given program. You then choose five ‘core’ courses from a given selection, two ‘specialization’ courses, and five elective courses. You finish with the ‘Integrative project’, a sort of abbreviated thesis. Most students take two or three courses per semester.
There is a lot of discussion about reflection and the ‘scholar practitioner’ model, but most of the courses were actually uniformly superficial. Some of the instructors were responsive to serious questions, but they were the exceptions, not the rule.
Most of the instructors were simply moonlighting. I was curious enough about them to actually check their CVs on the net, and most were consultants of some sort, often in fields unrelated to what they were teaching. I had three excellent teachers, and two or three who were fully adequate, but the rest were useless.
I'm not altogether comfortable describing this as a "plus", but I must say that very little effort was required to earn a nearly perfect GPA, and only the desire to get SOMEthing out of this entire experience pushed me to actually exert myself.
Capella’s organization is not good; one of the offerings listed as a Master's level class turned out to be for Ph.Ds, and an independent study, to boot.
Since they let me, I took the class anyway, believing it would be an actual challenge. It was not; the only challenge was getting some sort of response from the teacher. After I submitted a draft of my final paper for the class, I was nearly certain that he was not bothering to read my work. I confirmed this: When I'd completed my final paper, I had a brain-wave, just as I was about to send it: I substituted about a zillion rows of periods for the text, from halfway down the first page and on. Thus, if he'd glanced at even the first page, he would have seen that something (i.e. most of the introduction, and everything after it everything after it!) was missing.
But I got a 4.0 for that paper. No feedback, though.
If it had been an isolated incident, I would probably mention it anyway, but I repeated this experiment, with the same result. It seems that most of the teachers decide almost immediately what sort of student you are, and from that point on, it doesn't much matter what you do. If you are a student who is only taking a university program because it is required by your job, then I suppose that this is not so bad. It is absolutely true that the amount you put into this sort of thing makes a difference, but I frankly admit that never has the return seemed so poor as it did here.
Again: There WERE some decent, and even excellent teachers, teachers who very obviously read the students' work, and gave constructive feedback. I remain very grateful to them.
I also don't doubt that many of the teachers may have been hampered by the way the courses were formatted, the online class set-up, and by having to do remedial work with the many students who were just not ready, really, for university-level work.
If you are not familiar with online classrooms, they work sort of like message boards. Classes generally require students to make three ‘substantial’ post per week, which you can then read and respond to.
Part-way into the program, the original classroom delivery was changed. From the students’ standpoint, it offered no advantages, particularly as it coincided with a significant increase in tuition.
Homework and papers are uploaded (as they were before), but in the new system they often go missing. Teachers will not always tell you that an assignment you posted was not received, therefore it is a good idea to also send a duplicate of the assignment directly to the teacher, as a backup and proof that the work was done on-time.
The text-books:
After the first semester, I waited at least a week to order any books. Often, even required texts are used minimally, or not at all, and it can take a week or two to figure this out. The first semester, I used the Capella bookstore: The books never arrived, and Capella declined all responsibility for their disappearance. As their prices are not the best around (this is generally the case for college bookstores), other sources are better choices, anyway.
Student advisors:
Essentially, you’re on your own. Initially, there was a student advisor of sorts assigned to me. After a point, I stopped hearing from her. When I called Capella, I was told that she was on maternity leave, and that there was now an advisory team in place, anyway.
Oh.
It didn't make much difference, as the primary job of the advisors seems to have been to act as a firewall between students with their questions, and the rest of the staff.
No member of the advisory team was ever willing to admit that they could actually provide you with the information you needed. If I'd actually wanted advice, I would have been in trouble. It was frustrating enough as it was, to routinely be told to refer all questions to the team, when they would inevitably say that they'd have to check with "someone", and that they would get back to me. They never did.
Financial matters:
I did not know it at the time, but Capella’s ‘Preferred lenders’ do NOT necessarily offer the best rates, and it is not actually legal to charge a ‘Security fee’ for choosing another lender. As this fee (another fee I could find listed nowhere on their website) would have been several hundred dollars a semester, I went with their preferred lenders, and really regret it. The interest rates on my student loans are nearly double the best I could have found, had I shopped around.
Regardless of where you go to university, CHECK AS MANY STUDENT LOAN SOURCES AS POSSIBLE before making your choice of lender.
I was extremely relieved when I finally began my final semester.
A couple of months prior to the end of that semester, however, one of the students mentioned being stunned by the "graduation fee". This was not a fee covering cap, gown, and ceremony, should you wish to attend their live graduation ceremony, but the fee you had to pay to be acknowledged as a graduate. For this $350 fee you received... the graduation certificate. That's right, a computer-printed sheet of paper.
Although private universities can charge any fees that they like, I should mention that I had NEVER come across ANY other university, public or private, prestigious or otherwise, that charged a fee of any sort for acknowledging that a student had successfully completed their program (I asked several dozen family members, friends, colleagues, and casual acquaintances to make certain of this).
Still, Capella IS a private university, so the fee itself is merely unusual. The fact that they kept this fee under wraps, however (as I mentioned earlier, I'd become suspicious, so had asked very specifically if there were any additional fees to be expected, and was told "No.") seemed wrong.
Something seemed even more wrong, when I found NO mention of it on their "Tuition and Fees" page.
And really wrong was the response when I called Capella, asked about this, and was told to look at their website.
I told them I had, and found no mention of this. The pages to which I was directed were those at which I'd already looked (and printed out, for the record). True, there was a paragraph which mentioned a fee assessed at graduation with a link to it, but the link simply went to the "Tuition and fees" page, and THAT listed nothing whatever in terms of graduation fees. When I pointed this out, I was told that it was my responsibility, and that the staff was "really busy", at which she hung up.
I should mention that I called them again, and asked what exactly it was that cost $350 at Capella, but was free at Swarthmore or a CUNY college. I was told that this covered ‘administrative fees’ for the transcript, and ‘materials’.
What administrative fees? What materials? This they would not (or could not) answer.
I did know (from one of my rare phone conversations with my advisor, early on in the program) that all the relevant information about me could be punched up on screen in a moment, on one page. And printing out a computer document is not particularly demanding with regard to time, effort, or materials.
$350 is a lot for a piece of paper, particularly when you consider that you do not have to look far to find a better education at a better price, without a final “just because we can” blow to your wallet.
This is not a piece of paper that will necessarily carry much weight, either; a Capella program can be a source of awkwardness when listed on a CV. On one occasion, during a job interview, I was told quite bluntly that, in itself, a degree from Capella ‘. . . does not exactly impress’. Fortunately, I was able to produce both good GRE scores and evidence of my acceptance to respected distance program, but it was an embarrassing moment, nonetheless.
Summing up:
If you were to ask why on earth I stuck with Capella, it was because, by the time I realized that my time, patience, and money were being wasted, I'd invested too much to be able to simply drop it.
The overall quality of the instruction and service were well below the level of what might be reasonably expected of an accredited university, and their sales practices struck me as questionable. Unless your job requires you to obtain a degree, AND your employer is paying for/reimbursing you for attending Capella, you would do better elsewhere, even if your previous academic record is weak, or your work/personal schedule is very rigid and demanding. Even if a degree’s only value to you lies in its fulfillment of a job requirement, it would not be difficult to find an equivalent-quality (or better) program at a more competitive cost.
If you do apply to Capella, look over their fees very carefully, and ask – via email or letter – whether there are ANY other fees than those listed on the fees page; keep a hard copy of their reply.
Recommended:
No
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entailment
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Reviews written: 1
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