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Posted on Feb 23, 2016
SPC Human Resources Specialist
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For the past 2 1/2 years I have been trying to get my Bachelors degree in Human Resources Management from Grantham University. I've only been using my army tuition assistance, that is why it's been taking me so long to finish it. Anyways, I have about a year left somebody you know until I get my degree but I have been wondering if I should finish my degree at a regionally accredited nonprofit university. The reason is because I've been hearing a lot that for-profit colleges aren't that great when I graduate tries to find a career. This isn't something I've been thinking about on my own, but rather research I've been making over the past few months. Someone, please give me assistance on what I should do. Should I finish my degree at the college I'm at now or try to transition to a nonprofit university and see what credits transfer with me? Don't get me wrong, I really like Grantham University and the way classes are set up and how knowledgeable each professor is. It would just be a waste to go through and get my degree at this college and not have it planned me a job somewhere after I graduate. Thank you very much.
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SGM Billy Herrington
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Edited 10 y ago
You're in a bad place. Grantham is not regionally accredited. The chances of the credit transferring are slim and none; slim just left. I took 18 hrs at Grantham before I realized it. I stopped, transferred to Alabama and they didn't take any credits from Grantham.

It's not so much for profit vs non-profit as it is accreditation and name.

Some people don't believe in name recognition for a university. Some do. I personally do. Now Alabama vs Southern Cal vs Georgia etc, no. Ashford, Grantham, Columbia Southern, University of Phoenix etc vs the aforementioned school; not even close.

It's not too late to start over. I've had the long hard talk with a couple of my soldiers and they decided to leave Grantham. They applied for a Pell Grant and are doing junior college for cost savings then using TA for a regionally accredited university.

I always recommend Soldiers do junior college. The value is there, you can usually transfer 60-90 hrs to a senior college, the instructor to student ratio is much better, especially for the more difficult classes for most that have been out of school for a while such as algebra, comp, sciences etc.
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CPO Frank Coluccio
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Accreditation is the "be all and end all" when it comes to colleges and universities. It is important that you check to see if you credits transfer, as others have said.
Profit/non-profit...meh!
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Sgt William Biggs
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For profit vs non-profit doesn't matter unless the school is not accredited. I went to American Military University for 2 degree and Pepperdine University recognized both when I applied for my MBA. I don't know about Grantham, but I would dig into their accreditation. I went through the same phase were I questioned my degree's worth, but I have never had issues.
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SGT Jerrold Pesz
SGT Jerrold Pesz
10 y
American Military University is fully accredited. Accreditation is something that I encourage everyone thinking about a college to check. Credits that won't transfer can be a big problem down the road.
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PFC Biomedical Equipment Specialist
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5 y
So given that AMU is regionally accredited even though it's a profit school, would degrees from this school be looked down on in the civilian sector?
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Does it make a difference if my degree is from a For Profit or a Non-Profit college?
SP5 Retired
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SPC Matthew Riello If the school has a placement assistance office, check with them for the jobs their graduates have been able to find. Get names and reference contacts. If there is even a hint of reluctance, check out other options. Even if there is a start over, you will still have the knowledge gained during your stay at Grantham. In addition, if you do have to do a reset, look at CLEP and other options to test out of required hours and/or electives. Good luck, and keep on studying.
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CPT Physical Therapist
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I think everyone else hit the nail on the head when they said it needs to be regionally accredited, but I'll take it one step further. Do some digging and make sure they don't have any pending accreditation issues. Several years ago I went to a school that was highly recommended by an Army Education Counselor. It was private, but non-profit. It was pretty military friendly and they accepted pretty much all of my transfer credits while also giving my a lot of credit for military experience/training. I took a handful of classes through them and earned my Bachelor's degree. Not long after I received my degree (I'm talking within weeks) I received notice that they had been under investigation for a while and would soon be losing their accreditation. After they lost their initial appeal they decided to shut their doors. My degree is technically accredited, but it doesn't look good. Once it came time for me to apply to graduate programs I knew my degree wouldn't look competitive when compared against other quality applicants. I decided to bite bullet and get a second Bachelor's degree when I left the Army. Some financial aid programs won't cover a second degree at the same level so I ended up going out of pocket for a lot of it (I wanted to save my GI Bill for grad school), but I think it was worth it. The worst part was the wasted time. In the time I took to get a second undergrad degree, I could have been halfway through grad school.

Online schooling is becoming more and more accepted. There is actually research that shows distance education is as effective as traditional schooling for some subjects. It's not going away and will probably continue to grow. With that being said, I also think the choice of school may matter. It really depends on your goals. If you just want to "check the block" for promotion purposes (nothing wrong with that), then I don't think the choice of school matters all that much as long as it is accredited. On the other hand, if you plan on attending a competitive grad program or applying to a competitive position I think reputation of the school can matters. Surveys of HR professionals indicate that distance education degrees from established "brick and mortars" are held in higher regard than schools that are almost entirely online (many of which are for profit).

I would take an inventory of your goals and take an honest look at whether you think your current degree program will get you there. I know from experience that losing a bunch of credits (not to mention time and money) is scary and even frustrating, but it's better to cut your losses sooner rather than later. In retrospect I would have done things entirely differently and saved myself a lot of heartache.
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PO2 John Crutchfield
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I went to the UofPhx and graduated in 1999. I think the school had a much better reputation back then than it does today. I will say this, there are companies that frown on on-line degrees unless that degree is from a brick and mortar school. At one point in my career, I worked for SAIC as a contractor at Sandia National Laboratory. There was a job that I applied for as an SNL employee. I interviewed and was told that I was their choice for the job. However, HR said that they wouldn't accept my degree.

Today, there are boat-loads of brick and mortar schools that have online degree programs. Penn State, Embry-Riddle, Georgia, and Texas A&M, are several schools that have online programs for bachelor degrees.

Good luck and thank you for your service.
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CPO Curtiss Hill
CPO Curtiss Hill
10 y
What was the reason SNL would not accept your degree?
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PO2 John Crutchfield
PO2 John Crutchfield
10 y
I was told that they did not accept degrees from the UofPhx for technical positions. It had nothing to do with whether I had the experience, since I had been chosen by SNL Mgt for the lead position. Go figure. I will say that Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics IT, and SAIC accepted my degree without fail.
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CPT Pedro Meza
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This is from the web."Let me just say that Grantham is DISTANT learning certified this isn't regionally accredited so the credits do not transfer." My advice is to ask a counselor at your local non-profit university.
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SCPO Joshua I
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Grantham is not regionally accredited. You would have to start over at ground zero, as no regionally accredited university will take their credits (at least none I know of).
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CPO Curtiss Hill
CPO Curtiss Hill
10 y
Its like DeVry.
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LTC Immigration Judge
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What matters is if the school is accredited, not its financial model.

So long as your degree is from an accredited school, they are all the same for every job except your first.
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Cpl Bryan Whittaker
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Matthew, congratulations for continuing your education, I know it is not easy. I do not know anything about your current university, but when I went back to college and utilized my GI Bill, the one thing I always checked was that the University was accredited if not, I did not waste my time. I reside in California so the accreditation body responsible for the college & university that I attended was the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Be aware there are a lot of degree mills out there and I would steer clear. Also colleges and universities claim they are accredited, and will rattle off a lot of initials and abbreviations, but make sure and do your home work and seek out the regional accreditation. You can google this and find out what it is for your state and then see if the college you are attending as well as the degree program are in fact accredited. if they are not don't waste your time and money. I hope this helps and good luck!
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