National University

Will try to keep this as brief and to-​the-​point as possible – I have a feeling I will fail:
1. Class selection is difficult. Due to number of available classes being extremely limited, you may be forced to take a class you don’t want to take in order to maintain enrollment eligibility. This makes it very difficult to map out your educational goals, as there is no guarantee the class you want or need, will be available at the time you’d like to take it.
2. Financial Aid technical issues = no FA. Until June of this year, my FA was fairly smooth – no major complaints. However, I have been waiting 4 months to receive FA, now. Each time I contact them, I am told they expect my FA package to be available in 2 to 4 weeks. I eventually found out, after a couple of months, that I was up against 2 issues:
— – My FA loan period in their system was wrong – apparently showed a later date than what it should have;
— – FA recently switched from one software system to another, which has severely impacted their ability to grant awards at this time. Since June, I have basically been told my file will be complete in 2 to 4 weeks – every time I follow-​up on status, I am told the same thing… another 2 to 4 weeks.
3. Poor response time from Admissions Advisor. Response time as a new student is fantastic. Once you are enrolled, the service from your AA declines (at least it has with mine). There have been times I’ve had to send several follow-​up emails over the course of a few months to get a response. I pay $ 50 a year to shop at Costco and receive far better customer service than NU. I would expect paying over $ 1500 a class (which has increased $ 81 a class in the year and a half I’ve been at NU) to receive better support from a university while trying to reach your educational goals.
4. Inconsistencies from one class to the next. While NU has a standard that professors are expected to meet, they have a lot of flexibility regarding how they run their class.
— – Each Professor has their own grading criteria. I have had some professors calculate an A as 93% and above, 94% and above, 95% and above, etc. There is no set standard.
— – I’m accustomed to classes having a syllabus that covers all need-​to-​know info on the class. Discussing standard school policy, required texts, learning objectives, class outline with assignments and due dates, etc. It was a one-​stop-​shop for all important information relating to the class. This is not the case at NU. While this has improved greatly since they moved from ClassLive to Blackboard, you still have to go to multiple locations to get all of the information you need and each Professor organizes things differently.
— – Exam availability varies per class. Some professors open up an exam that can be taken anytime during the full length of a week. Others provide only a small window, such as 12pm Saturday until 12pm Sunday. Some professors will make exams due before the weekly assignments and reading are due.
— – Length of school week varies per class. Some professors maintain a Mon-​Sat school week; others are Mon-​Sun; a few are Mon-​Mon. NU classes typically end on the 4^th Saturday of the course – some professors strictly adhere to this deadline, while others extend their class a day or two.
— – Response time from professors. Most professors teach at multiple schools or have other jobs outside of teaching, so most do not have set «office» hours. Due to the short time-​frame of the classes, it is important to get answers to your questions fairly quickly to avoid falling behind.
One person stated that they have found that employers do not think highly of their degree. This is quite possible but could also be true of someone who graduated from a CSU vs UC school. If an employer has two or more desirable candidates, they have to weigh other factors to determine which person they want to ultimately employ. Where you went to college may be a factor as well as extracurricular activities, area of study, GPA, volunteer work, credit history, etc. Employers want highly motivated people, as they are generally more successful. Simply having a degree from an accredited college will put you a notch above those who have no degree at all and that is enough for some employers. If you are trying to get into a highly competitive field or work for well-​known companies (Google, for instance) you will likely need a degree from a more renowned university. So, I wouldn’t say a degree from NU is useless; however, it obviously won’t open as many doors as a degree from SDSU, a UC school, or any Ivy-​league schools.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! Been getting my masters and teaching credential and my experience has been H*ll. not the course but admin. Message me and I can send you my dissertation of how horrible this organization is. Don’t do it. Scam and you’ll get the worst headache of your life!

National is a good program as far as education and receiving an accredited degree that you can transfer anywhere. The teachers are very on the ball, well educated and helpful. The classes are structured very well with tons of resources. I’m EXTREMELY happy with my education and award them 5 stars in this area.
My only complaint about National University is the lack of organization. Financial Aid is a NIGHTMARE… Please be prepared to have to put up some of the cost of your classes in the event there is a mix up with your financial aid. Always keep a classes worth of savings just in case.
Financial aid mistakes have already been made to my account 5 times in my 9 months here. When they recognize the issue they try to fix it. The problem it seems is that no one department has all the information. Be prepared to get conflicting answers from everyone you talk to and have to do a lot of run around work to get things done. Read up and be knowledgeable about how everything works so you can answer your own questions. No stars here…
National is a great school though, it may be expensive but if you can stomach the cost and are serious about earning your degree try them out and I believe you’ll be happy. :)

This is for the online graduate history program. National’s history program is led by an excellent instructor, Dr. Alex Zukas, and Dr. Douglas Lawson, the chair of the Social Science department is also very helpful. Most of the other instructors, however, leave a bit to be desired. Some don’t offer any helpful feedback, some don’t provide online office hours, and others aren’t able to post grades in a timely (or even mediocre) manner. My biggest complaint is the asinine thesis «class» I am now taking. There has been no instruction, no helpful feedback or guidance, and much of the class’s organization has been taken over by certain students because of the incompetence of the instructor. I am giving two stars solely for the excellence of Dr. Zukas – no other aspect of the history program deserves anything from me.