I know LUO has been great for many. But there are plenty it’s been absolutely frustrating to. Here’s a story from a former athlete trying to get an MBA:
I can see how people think LUO is taking advantage of federal money because of the catch 22 they have me in. I tried to re-enroll to finish my last course a month ago, the one I've been fighting them on for two years. They actually denied my enrollment on the same grounds they were fighting me on for moving forward with the class. So now I'm just stuck.
A few years ago I dropped under the GPA threshold and was put on academic suspension. They gave me an F in a class I dropped. I didn't realize it until a year little when I picked my studies back up. I got a B in my next to last class, which was perfectly acceptable. When I tried to take the capstone, they said my GPA wouldn't allow me to graduate and I needed to either retake the class or enroll in another class or two to boost the GPA and take a writing assessment class that would serve as an evaluation of my ability to proceed with the degree program.
I decided to try to solve the puzzle and pick it back this year. LUO said too much time had lapsed since I was an active student. I could pick up where I left off, but I had to re-enroll and be accepted. Then they denied me based on GPA because of the result of that earlier class.
The big thing about it is two fold:
One - I dropped the class and I told the professor I was withdrawing. However, they say the professor dropped me from the roster prior to my declaring to them that I intended to drop therefore it's a Fail and not a WD.
Secondly - I changed from a specific 45 hour MBA track to the generic 36 hour track. This class isn't even required for me to finish now. It’s now an extra class on my transcript that they're still counting against my GPA. And I have three other classes that I've taken which don't count now. Thats on me for changing tracks, and I'm ok with that, but it shows I've really done more than required to finish.
But now I can't get anyone to discuss the discrepancy with me because they say I have to be enrolled first. So I can't get past the enrollment wall to discuss with an advisor or higher up that "hey, you guys are punishing me for a class that I don't have to have." Which frankly, may simply solve the problem. And regardless, my GPA is high enough that if they let me re-enroll and take the capstone I'll have a 3.0 when it's all said and done if I get an A in the class. So why keep me from taking it?
I got left with the impression that despite eight years there, nearly two degrees, and tons of money spent that they didn't care at all about me. They just saw another opportunity for $10,000.
It's stories like that one that illustrate the downsides of LUO. In theory, having the online school pay for the residential school and help build up our endowment was a genius plan. However, I feel LUO grew way too big way too quickly. We got blinded by the money it was bringing in and kept expanding and expanding and the support couldn't keep up. That's why it feels predatory at times.
You
can get a quality education with LUO, but like stated above, not everyone should be taking post-graduate classes. The way the school is structured and the way it is marketed along with the access to federal money gives people who have no place taking post-grad classes the ability to put themselves in a gigantic financial hole. And for those who want to better themselves but get hit by the normal things life as an adult brings, there's no structure in place to help solve problems.
LUO is not the devil. It has tons of potential to be a really, really good option for a lot of people. It needs to be overhauled though in order to reach the standard we keep for ourselves as a University.
- By ballcoach15
- By Ill flame