University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Flex program

[cardiacclep]

I thought I would do a quick review of UWM flex program for this awesome community of dedicated learners. I am doing the second bachelors in Information Science and Technology currently and think it is a fantastic program that should be the model for adult online education. For people with a bachelors degree, the IST program can be completed with just 10 courses. The degree is exactly as it sounds, half information (library really) science and half IT. There is web design, database SQL, and web applications courses to name a few. The great thing is that it is all at your own pace like WGU. Subscriptions are 3 months and come in two flavors. One course over 3 months is $900 and an "all you can take" for a 3 month window is $2,250. I am actually finishing up a 3 month window having done 5 classes with more or less ease. These 5 classes came to about $150 per credit hour and expect to have my second bachelors completed for about $6,500. A highly motivated student could possible get this done in 2 or 3 subscriptions. I started last subscription and only took one course not knowing what to expect. I completed that course in 3 weeks and unfortunately had to wait to for subscription to end before I could sign up for the next subscription. Basically a course has around four or five competencies to compete. There are usually a combination of power points, video lectures and book readings that encompass the didactic portion. How fast you complete that is up to you. For example, an experienced web designer could complete the web design course over a weekend in my opinion.  Assessments are usually in the form of a quiz, project or paper. I completed most of the courses within a 3 week window but students have a full 3 months to complete all coursework. Some courses, if 75% completed, can be allowed to spill into the next subscription I believe. It was tough but doable even with a full time job. I just doubled down on slow days and paused things during busy periods. This is really the future and how online education should be. There is nothing worse than having a hard deadline when life is unpredictable as I have experienced with traditional online courses. I am surprised that there isn't much buzz on this site about the UWM flex programs as it can be extremely cheap for motivated students. I would say check it out and see if any of the flex degrees fit what you need. There are IT, business and healthcare degrees. And unlike other competency based universities, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is an established university with a great reputation. Heck, the CEO of Microsoft went there as proof of reputation. I will do my best to answer any questions. 

https://flex.wisconsin.edu/

[jsd]

Thanks for the great write up! We haven’t heard much of anything about their flex program, so this is exciting to see.

I wish they had graduate programs.

[dfrecore]

I'm guessing (not certain) that there are several reasons people aren't looking at UW:
1) Do they accept ACE/NCCRS credits?
2) Are there additional costs besides the subscription amount? Books, other fees?
3) For the IT degree, do you get certs included?
4) They don't explain the requirements well. I see what's required in the major, but not the Gen Ed stuff. Where is that on the website?

I'm glad you found a program that works well for you though.

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EDIT: I did find that they accept ACE, but there was not a lot of explanation. Still unclear if you can bring in a bunch of ACE credits like the Big 3 and WGU would accept.

Also found the Gen Ed stuff.

I also was able to see the requirements of the BSBA, and the major issue I see is that they don't allow a lot of the major courses to be transferred in: Business Algebra, Business Stats, Macro & Microecon, Financial Accounting & Managerial Accounting only. And you have to take 30cr there for residency (similar to WGU). You would have to do a minimum of 14 courses, which sounds like a lot to finish in 3 months. So I'm guessing it's going to be $4500 for 2 terms/6mo, or $6750 for 3 terms/9mo. Price is still decent but not less expensive than WGU (which would be $3335/6mo or $6670/12mo).

For the IT degree you're getting, it's a lot different than the WGU degree. It would totally depend on if you wanted these kinds of courses or not.

They do allow more flexibility than WGU, with a kind of 50/50 split between the Gen Ed's and Major courses, and a lot of electives allowed. WGU has zero electives, with a 25/75 or 30/70 Gen Ed/Major split.

This seems a little bit more like a TESU degree, if they were to have a competency-based model (lord help us).

---

One final thing as I was looking to see if their business program was ACBSP:

Accreditation
On June 8, 2018, the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System approved the transfer of the UW Flexible Option Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from UW-Extension to University of Wisconsin-Parkside.  UW-Parkside is an accredited institution through the Higher Learning Commission.  This transition is expected to take several months. Though the exact date of transfer is not known yet, it is anticipated that the program will transfer to UW-Parkside in the early months of 2019.  In the interim, UW-Extension will continue to admit students and serve students in this program.   The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree and UW-Extension are unaccredited.

Now that is scary!  That would mean that until the transfer takes place, you're not only not at an RA school, you're not at an NA school either!

[durain]

Thanks for sharing.

Is there a GPA for the Flex degree?

[cardiacclep]

I'm guessing (not certain) that there are several reasons people aren't looking at UW:
1) Do they accept ACE/NCCRS credits?
2) Are there additional costs besides the subscription amount? Books, other fees?
3) For the IT degree, do you get certs included?
4) They don't explain the requirements well.  I see what's required in the major, but not the Gen Ed stuff.  Where is that on the website?

I'm glad you found a program that works well for you though.

--------------------------------------------------

EDIT: I did find that they accept ACE, but there was not a lot of explanation.  Still unclear if you can bring in a bunch of ACE credits like the Big 3 and WGU would accept.

Also found the Gen Ed stuff.

I also was able to see the requirements of the BSBA, and the major issue I see is that they don't allow a lot of the major courses to be transferred in: Business Algebra, Business Stats, Macro & Microecon, Financial Accounting & Managerial Accounting only.  And you have to take 30cr there for residency (similar to WGU).  You would have to do a minimum of 14 courses, which sounds like a lot to finish in 3 months.  So I'm guessing it's going to be $4500 for 2 terms/6mo, or $6750 for 3 terms/9mo.  Price is still decent but not less expensive than WGU (which would be $3335/6mo or $6670/12mo).

For the IT degree you're getting, it's a lot different than the WGU degree.  It would totally depend on if you wanted these kinds of courses or not.

They do allow more flexibility than WGU, with a kind of 50/50 split between the Gen Ed's and Major courses, and a lot of electives allowed.  WGU has zero electives, with a 25/75 or 30/70 Gen Ed/Major split.

This seems a little bit more like a TESU degree, if they were to have a competency-based model (lord help us).

---

One final thing as I was looking to see if their business program was ACBSP:

Accreditation
On June 8, 2018, the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System approved the transfer of the UW Flexible Option Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from UW-Extension to University of Wisconsin-Parkside.  UW-Parkside is an accredited institution through the Higher Learning Commission.  This transition is expected to take several months. Though the exact date of transfer is not known yet, it is anticipated that the program will transfer to UW-Parkside in the early months of 2019.  In the interim, UW-Extension will continue to admit students and serve students in this program.   The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree and UW-Extension are unaccredited.

Now that is scary!  That would mean that until the transfer takes place, you're not only not at an RA school, you're not at an NA school either!

You bring up a lot of points I didn't consider. This degree may not fit the needs of all but many on here would benefit from its accelerated nature. I believe anyone coming in with an associates degree would meet the gen ed requirements but not sure on that as I came in the second degree route. As for other fees, there really isn't much. In my six classes so far, I was only required to buy 2 books. Those were, in my opinion, not even necessary to do the work. Most of the learning material are pdfs, power points, video lectures and external links supplied for free in the embedded learning material. Also, there are no technology or admin fees typically seen in online courses. UWM uses Desire 2 Learn software if anyone as experience using that for what its worth. 

While similar to WGU (no experience), you are correct that at current time there are no certifications associated with the course work. This in my opinion is ok as I would rather self study for specific certs than take needless and often saturated certs. That is just a personal take on that. What WGU provides is awesome but may not meet the needs of all. Personally, I just like the UWM is a state brick and mortar university with a good reputation. This can be important or not depending on the individual. I didn't mean to make this a WGU vs UWM things as both seem to provide excellent and much needed nontraditional ways to get a good degree. 

As far as the Business Admin degree being not accredited surprised me. I also saw that on the website. I am assuming it is just because of the process of moving the degree over to UW Parkside?  I have no idea but I or anyone who finds out please update the forum as that seems to be a popular degree on here.  Excellent points you brought up.

[dfrecore]

You bring up a lot of points I didn't consider. This degree may not fit the needs of all but many on here would benefit from its accelerated nature. I believe anyone coming in with an associates degree would meet the gen ed requirements but not sure on that as I came in the second degree route. As for other fees, there really isn't much. In my six classes so far, I was only required to buy 2 books. Those were, in my opinion, not even necessary to do the work. Most of the learning material are pdfs, power points, video lectures and external links supplied for free in the embedded learning material. Also, there are no technology or admin fees typically seen in online courses. UWM uses Desire 2 Learn software if anyone as experience using that for what its worth. 

While similar to WGU (no experience), you are correct that at current time there are no certifications associated with the course work. This in my opinion is ok as I would rather self study for specific certs than take needless and often saturated certs. That is just a personal take on that. What WGU provides is awesome but may not meet the needs of all. Personally, I just like the UWM is a state brick and mortar university with a good reputation. This can be important or not depending on the individual. I didn't mean to make this a WGU vs UWM things as both seem to provide excellent and much needed nontraditional ways to get a good degree. 

As far as the Business Admin degree being not accredited surprised me. I also saw that on the website. I am assuming it is just because of the process of moving the degree over to UW Parkside?  I have no idea but I or anyone who finds out please update the forum as that seems to be a popular degree on here.  Excellent points you brought up.

I definitely was not trying to dis your degree, as I'm glad you got it, and I'm glad there are other providers out there.  You are right in that there is something for everyone, and this might be a better path for some than WGU for sure.  Someone who had a lot more Gen Ed credits might be a better fit here than WGU.

In comparing them to WGU and TESU, it's just to give someone out there an idea of the differences, not to say that one is necessarily better than another.  They all have their pros and cons.

[Strozew3]

Does anyone know if the flex program or Milwaukee accepts credits from Straighterline?

[dfrecore]

Does anyone know if the flex program or Milwaukee accepts credits from Straighterline?

I can't see that they do.  They list CLEP, but one campus (Parkside) only says they take ACE credit from military (which is usually very limited).

On the other hand, the Business program is not only RA (they weren't at one point in time during a transition), but the business degree is now AACSB.