UMPI's under review by NECHE??

[Mint Berry Crunch]

It is weird. I never saw people complain when students speed ran degrees at B&M schools. I know people who loaded up on credits and graduate with a BS in 2 years, leveraging alot of AP credits and community college classes they took in highschool. Im sure today with online school it could be done even faster.

People hate it when they see others succeed at a fraction of the cost and time. People will always look for avenues to defend/justify their degree. 2 years when compared to any of the degrees we discuss about on here is a substantial amount of time (not really, but 7-8 weeks compared to 2 years is significant).

You are right, online schooling can be done faster because its more autonomous and self-driven compared to the conveyor belt method at a traditional B&M. Granted, you need determination and motivation. A lot of individuals in college are still young adults (18-22) who are used to a lot of guided instruction, thus traditional formats seem familiar and the way to go. It took a long time to break the notion that the internet =/= completion of a solid program. Many critics would have you believe that the traditional format of education is the only tried and true way of doing it.

[LevelUP]

As for the people who publicly document how they speedrun a WGU degree, if anything, it seems to help them more than hurt them. Employers can be impressed by people who take their education into their own hands, set an ambitious goal, and demonstrate the discipline to complete it quickly.

Whereas I'd expect the overall effect to be negative. But I suppose neither of us has run the experiment, so maybe you're right.

I don't mean like Joe-Blow8902 on Reddit.  I mean people who wrote blogs about it using their real names. 

People like Josh Madakor and Beau Carnes made extreme acceleration part of their public professional identity and went on to successful tech careers.

Interestingly enough, the WGU subreddit has about 93k followers. One of the more popular aspects and common themes discussed about in the subreddit is speed. Many people post about their success stories and many people (in my opinion) try to mimic it. Madakor and Carnes are definitely experienced individuals in their respective fields which allows them to accelerate at such speeds. I think people want the same thing for themselves regardless of experience and become jaded when they can't copy the same results and become disgruntled.

I think both anonymous and revealed online identities contribute to more and more people joining. Word of Mouth is pretty important too - I started my WGU journey when someone at work told me about Sophia and WGU. Here I am 3 years later.

I also keep seeing a ton of commercials both at work and on my smart TV for WGU.

A lot of the people who speed-run degrees at WGU already have a lot of experience, which is part of what can make WGU such a godsend for them.

WGU probably has the most rigor of all the schools we recommend here on DF. That’s because many technical subjects have proctored exams, so you can’t just BS your way through a degree at WGU like you sometimes can at other colleges by mainly writing papers.

However, if you max out your transfer credits, which usually involved passing proctored exams at places like Study.com, although Study.com no longer uses proctored exams, then most people should be able to get through WGU and handle a few of the tougher courses, assuming it didn’t take them forever to get through their Study.com courses.

And if you couldn’t, you could always pivot and get a tech degree at TESU. TESU also has quite a few exams, and we’ve had at least one person on here fail some of their courses. That said, if you cherry-pick your courses or only take the cornerstone and capstone at TESU, it can be quite easy. Getting that straight A, though, might not be quite so easy.

“Degree hacking,” or whatever you want to call it, is also exciting to read about. When you see someone post, “I finished a college-equivalent course in one day,” it grabs your attention.

It would be like someone saying, “I drove from LA to NY in two hours.”

You’re like, “What!? Did they go through a wormhole or something? How did they do that?”

That kind of thing helps a post go viral.

[GoBroncos95]

I think UMPI is going to end up being fine accredidation wise. I'd be worried if they put a cap on how many credits someone can take in a session.

[ashkir]

I wouldn't be surprised if they stop taking Sophia. Sophia isn't doing much to combat the cheating groups. Facebook is full of cheating groups. There's 2 big UMPI groups. One is mine on Facebook and the other is called UMPI Sophia which is full of admins that sell homework and cheating services for both UMPI and Sophia. And reporting it to facebook says "nothing is wrong with this community".

Also the report people keep posting is from April 2026. Todd saw his article's attention died down which is why there's a new push.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

A lot of the people who speed-run degrees at WGU already have a lot of experience, which is part of what can make WGU such a godsend for them.

WGU probably has the most rigor of all the schools we recommend here on DF. That’s because many technical subjects have proctored exams, so you can’t just BS your way through a degree at WGU like you sometimes can at other colleges by mainly writing papers.

However, if you max out your transfer credits, which usually involved passing proctored exams at places like Study.com, although Study.com no longer uses proctored exams, then most people should be able to get through WGU and handle a few of the tougher courses, assuming it didn’t take them forever to get through their Study.com courses.

And if you couldn’t, you could always pivot and get a tech degree at TESU. TESU also has quite a few exams, and we’ve had at least one person on here fail some of their courses. That said, if you cherry-pick your courses or only take the cornerstone and capstone at TESU, it can be quite easy. Getting that straight A, though, might not be quite so easy.

“Degree hacking,” or whatever you want to call it, is also exciting to read about. When you see someone post, “I finished a college-equivalent course in one day,” it grabs your attention.

It would be like someone saying, “I drove from LA to NY in two hours.”

You’re like, “What!? Did they go through a wormhole or something? How did they do that?”

That kind of thing helps a post go viral.

I concur with everything you've said. I'm certain that's how many individuals ended up here. WGU is a solid school - no arguments from me there. They are definitely a powerhouse in terms of getting a quality tech-related or business degree(s) which are some of the most sought after degrees by most individuals. That attention usually goes one of two ways: either very positively or quite negatively; I can't say I know of any real in between. UoPeople is a great example of some bad reputation (granted, not CBE). I'm sure the positive receptions often outweigh the negatives since they're so overwhelming at any of the CBE institutions we discuss about on here. 

It's unfortunate that an outsider to any of these programs and someone who arguable hasn't been in the realm of education since the 80's/90's (this Wallack individual - a half-wit journalist) is attempting to weigh in on the rigor of any of these programs. IMO, guy seems insecure and threatened by these types of educational reforms that have been developing since the Obama administration (roughly beginning around 2009?). Yellow-journalism is revealing in some ways, but completely dishonest in others. 

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I wouldn't be surprised if they stop taking Sophia. Sophia isn't doing much to combat the cheating groups. Facebook is full of cheating groups. There's 2 big UMPI groups. One is mine on Facebook and the other is called UMPI Sophia which is full of admins that sell homework and cheating services for both UMPI and Sophia. And reporting it to facebook says "nothing is wrong with this community".

Also the report people keep posting is from April 2026. Todd saw his article's attention died down which is why there's a new push.

Significant crackdowns have already happened with now limited direct-transfer credits, aside from them applying as gen electives, so I wouldn't be surprised if at some point, like COSC, UMPI begins discarding alt sources of credit like those from Sophia. Sources like Study.com may hold up since they're a bit more rigorous IMO compared to Sophia (not by much).

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I think UMPI is going to end up being fine accredidation wise. I'd be worried if they put a cap on how many credits someone can take in a session.

There's quite an extensive list of CBE programs on our wiki that already operate like that unfortunately, and it would be a shame to see UMPI go down that path. I'm fairly positive that President Rice wouldn't let that happen as they reflect on the bigger mission and vision on providing an affordable and high-quality education program for residents of Maine that have some college credits, but have not completed a degree program. 

Although many individuals that are part of the YourPace program are outside the state of Maine, UMPI's mission is both local and global, and I'm sure that the UMaine system wouldn't want to impact the workforce development of its denizens. The YourPace program has truly been a godsend for many individuals and it's been proving a great reputation in the name of CBE programs for others to engage with and other colleges/universities to mirror.

[DegreeNerd]

WGU has a pretty good reputation with large employers such as Microsoft and Facebook, both of which have hired WGU graduates.

That's people hired during the insane bull run with the white hot job market in tech. 
Now that has collapsed, I wonder how well "non-traditional degrees" are performing?? As the competition is tough

As for the people who publicly document how they speedrun a WGU degree, if anything, it seems to help them more than hurt them. Employers can be impressed by people who take their education into their own hands, set an ambitious goal, and demonstrate the discipline to complete it quickly.

Whereas I'd expect the overall effect to be negative. But I suppose neither of us has run the experiment, so maybe you're right.

I don't mean like Joe-Blow8902 on Reddit.  I mean people who wrote blogs about it using their real names. 

People like Josh Madakor and Beau Carnes made extreme acceleration part of their public professional identity and went on to successful tech careers.

They're YouTube influencer now though, they're not in the job market or working professionally themselves.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

WGU has a pretty good reputation with large employers such as Microsoft and Facebook, both of which have hired WGU graduates.

That's people hired during the insane bull run with the white hot job market in tech. 
Now that has collapsed, I wonder how well "non-traditional degrees" are performing?? As the competition is tough

As for the people who publicly document how they speedrun a WGU degree, if anything, it seems to help them more than hurt them. Employers can be impressed by people who take their education into their own hands, set an ambitious goal, and demonstrate the discipline to complete it quickly.

Whereas I'd expect the overall effect to be negative. But I suppose neither of us has run the experiment, so maybe you're right.

I don't mean like Joe-Blow8902 on Reddit.  I mean people who wrote blogs about it using their real names. 

People like Josh Madakor and Beau Carnes made extreme acceleration part of their public professional identity and went on to successful tech careers.

They're YouTube influencer now though, they're not in the job market or working professionally themselves.

What do you mean? Josh Madakor back in 2023 left Microsoft to become an instructor for CourseCareers and is the founder of LOG(N).

Beau Carnes is the director of freeCodeCamp with previous tech experience.

I don't believe your statement of "not in the job market or working professionally themselves" accurately reflects what they currently do or have previously done.

Being YouTube influencers is only part of what they do/have done.

[TenderMoni]

I currently work for an HBCU in Washington D.C. that gets a TON of skewed press, and we recently updated our Gen Ed requirements, triggering an inquiry from our accrediting body. This process takes quite a while and I'm betting it was decided on way before the initial April (or whenever it was) letter; and believe them expanding and updating the Gen Ed requirements is a part of what triggered the view.

I'm not really worried at all, and just today submitted my application for UMPI's B.S. in Healthcare Administration. Wish me luck!

[Mint Berry Crunch]

I currently work for an HBCU in Washington D.C. that gets a TON of skewed press, and we recently updated our Gen Ed requirements, triggering an inquiry from our accrediting body. This process takes quite a while and I'm betting it was decided on way before the initial April (or whenever it was) letter; and believe them expanding and updating the Gen Ed requirements is a part of what triggered the view.

I'm not really worried at all, and just today submitted my application for UMPI's B.S. in Healthcare Administration. Wish me luck!

VUL was under the scope as well a couple of years ago due to financial reporting. They are in the clear now from what I know.

[DegreeNerd]

WGU has a pretty good reputation with large employers such as Microsoft and Facebook, both of which have hired WGU graduates.

That's people hired during the insane bull run with the white hot job market in tech. 
Now that has collapsed, I wonder how well "non-traditional degrees" are performing?? As the competition is tough

As for the people who publicly document how they speedrun a WGU degree, if anything, it seems to help them more than hurt them. Employers can be impressed by people who take their education into their own hands, set an ambitious goal, and demonstrate the discipline to complete it quickly.

Whereas I'd expect the overall effect to be negative. But I suppose neither of us has run the experiment, so maybe you're right.

I don't mean like Joe-Blow8902 on Reddit.  I mean people who wrote blogs about it using their real names. 

People like Josh Madakor and Beau Carnes made extreme acceleration part of their public professional identity and went on to successful tech careers.

They're YouTube influencer now though, they're not in the job market or working professionally themselves.

What do you mean? Josh Madakor back in 2023 left Microsoft to become an instructor for CourseCareers and is the founder of LOG(N).

Beau Carnes is the director of freeCodeCamp with previous tech experience.

I don't believe your statement of "not in the job market or working professionally themselves" accurately reflects what they currently do or have previously done.

Being YouTube influencers is only part of what they do/have done.

I was replying to a post which said "...and went on to successful tech careers."
Clearly not the case! 
Their whole lives are now focused around being content creators. 
Their (conventional) tech careers are in their past. 

Speedblitzing degrees isn't for the sake of their professional tech careers, but instead they do it for content creation.