advice on colleges

[stempleman]

hello everyone first post here on daniweb, i have been reading through the forums for a few weeks now. I have been looking through my options for different colleges. i live in lake havasu city az.

A. we have our community college here which offers two cis associates degrees. one of which transfers directly over to NAU northern arizona university. this option would obviously be a little cheaper then the other but i am concerned after reading many posts on various forums that some colleges wont hold the accreditation to some employers needs and wants so in the end my degree could end up being a waste, i couldnt find any information from graduates on the two colleges.

b. i looked into the university of phoenix the program seems pretty good although i have seen many people talking badly about UoP and i also have seen good things. Again im not sure about the accreditation to employers of this college. at the same time both of my options are both regionally accredited colleges but this seems to not have mattered to some employers from stories i have read.

For financial aid my efc is 0 i get full pell grants 53xx dollars and stafford loans. my community college would be paid for in full and some left over with just the pell grant. at UoP 53xx would be paid for and a remainder of 3500 would be left over for each school year. my intentions would be to continue working but reduce my hours to part time and pay for the 3500 each year by the time the next school year rolled around.

any advice will be greatly appreciated and if either of my two options dont seem to sound then possibly you guys know of a college i could look into.

-steven

[stempleman]

bump.... no advice from anyone?

[Aild]

Uh, university of phoenix doesn't count as real university.

my advice is to get bachelors, not associates. It's not that big of a deal if you get associates from community college and then transfer to NAU to complete your bachelors. i honestly think that associates are kinda worthless but.. i could be wrong, or biased since i go to a university.

[stempleman]

ok....thanks for being the only person to reply in 3 days! i decided not to go to the UoP. that being said i am going to go to my local college to get my gen. ed classes taken care of and transferring to a university. what do you mean its not that big of a deal? meaning its not good or it wont make a difference either way. now im trying to figure out which program to take here at the college. cis aas, system administration aas, or they have mentioned cis but an aa of business.

[Aild]

ok....thanks for being the only person to reply in 3 days! i decided not to go to the UoP. that being said i am going to go to my local college to get my gen. ed classes taken care of and transferring to a university. what do you mean its not that big of a deal? meaning its not good or it wont make a difference either way. now im trying to figure out which program to take here at the college. cis aas, system administration aas, or they have mentioned cis but an aa of business.

i meant it as it won't make much difference. what you need to do is make sure the classes you take at the local community college will safely transfer over to university that you plan to go to later on. sometimes universities won't accept certain classes from highschool/community colleges/other universities. lots of transfer students get screwed over and end up taking more time. but if you look into it before you transfer (and especially you are mostly taking gen eds anyway), you shouldn't have much problem.

we have our community college here which offers two cis associates degrees. one of which transfers directly over to NAU northern arizona university.

this is the important part in not getting screwed over.

hope that helped.

[stempleman]

The systems admin aas transfers right into NAU's tech. management bachelors program. The business degree-cis will transfer to more universities in AZ then the systems admin one because more gen. ed classes are required for the business degree. I'm going to take classes that are required for both until i can come to a better conclusion of what i want to do. My biggest worry is what employers will want to see and what one will be useless. thanks for your input

[rcafferky]

Hi Stapleman,

If I had to redo it all, I would go to a traditional university or start out at a community college as you are doing..

I chose to go back to college 4 years ago at ITT Tech, and have mixed reviews about my education. I am in my last term in my BS program in IT, and I am getting the impression that this college has a terrible reputation. I am now somewhat kicking myself, but the other half of me says don't sweat it... Some employers just want to see a degree... Others want to see a more prestigious eduction.. Live an learn. Getting a degree doesn't really mean getting a job...

Thankfully, I work for a reputable company in the field, and hopefully employers in the future can see past my education if they have a problem with ITT. Just a note, that working 40+ hours a week and taking 12 or more credits will make your mind explode...

After i graduate this fall, I plan on getting more certifications... Employers like to see that too.. Hope this helps

- Ron

[OlyComputers]

An associates degree doesn't count for much with employers in most markets but it you use it as the first two years of a bachelors degree there's no problem. The accreditation of the university you graduate from is what will matter.

As for UoP... I don't know if they have a real campus in Arizona, but their online program is not well regarded. A bachelors from them is probably better than just an associates from somebody else but (at least in the rest of the country) a degree from a local University (even with the first two years at a JC) will be more desirable.

I'd suggest the JC route with a transfer to a university. It will save you some money, let you make sure you really want this field before you commit too far, and probably give you the best education. Not to mention that an associates degree does count for something if your circumstances change and you have to start working more after less than four years.

[stempleman]

Yes thanks for your input everything i can get info about will help give me a better understanding of how i can make the right choice.

As you said i am starting at the local community college started this week. My degree declaration that i chose was in Abus-Cis. This was the only CIS degree that transferred to all Arizona state universities. My other choice was AAS-CIS which just transferred to Northern Arizona University (which is more then likely where i will be going but i don't want to quite limit myself there yet)

In general do any of you guys have a idea of what degree is most desirable by employers. Will a bachelors business-cis degree satisfy to most employers? or should i think about doing the bachelors of applied science. or not doing either of the ones that they have and go for a BS-CIS/CS degree and just do general ed courses for now. thankss!

[stempleman]

thanks, i wasn't really asking if my associates degree will get me anywhere career wise but it does seem like what associate degree will limit me to where i transfer to and to what program i transfer into. Again if you have any input on the question above^ it will be greatly appreciated.

[Wasser]

For choosing colleges, two and only two should be included in youe choice making process.

First, the college's reputation. A prestige one, great! If not, could it provide u all the infractures that u need??

Second, your subject. Sometime, what's u learn is far more important than where u learn. Make sure that College had enough resources to teache u well in your subject.

Hope help, and cheers!

[OlyComputers]

There's no one degree that employers want, it depends on the job and the employer. You need to look at what it is you really want to do and research what the best degree for that path is, if you're not sure choose the degree that would give you the most options.