UoPeople WASC Accredited 2/14/2025

[Ares]

Well, I will be applying for the Master of Education program.. Is anyone else thinking of signing up for UOP now lol?

Nope. I'm still in shock that they were approved for RA given they don't have faculty. Their faculty are volunteers basically. They have an awful exam proctoring system. The peer review is just horrendous. Have WASC standards slipped? Or what happened here?

A recommendation would be to move away from this narrow bias of Academic Preachers and focus on the wins—for students, educators, and the community—and continue to build a supportive environment that empowers everyone to succeed.

I personally like to hear all perspectives of someone's experience not just the positive. Focusing only on the wins doesn't assist when there needs to be improvement. It is like telling someone to just be quiet and accept whatever bad situation that there is. Understanding how something is wrong can make improvements for even better success in the future.

My experience teaching there was negative and my attempt to be a student there was even worse. Just my experience and opinion. I saw somewhere where someone had once asked if UoPeople is legit. The person answered barely legit. Which I think is the best way to explain. They meet all the requirements but something is just off with them. Again my opinion.

This is exactly what I am talking about, you have many reputable members of these forums clearly explaining the negative aspects of UoP. They should not only be heard but taken very seriously. When UoP first arrived, it sounded promising as a low cost University with a horrible name but as soon as I read feedback my position changed 180 degrees and with the very concerning problems still existing I just do not see how they can ever be taken seriously again. I am still confused how they ever obtained RA accreditation and are now in the same institutional accreditation level as Stanford???

ChatGPT has effectively destroyed Coursera's reputation and is slowly eating its way through online schools who do not take proctoring seriously. UoP allowing you to proctor yourself with a fake account is the final nail in their coffin. Sure all the scammers will go there and use them as a diploma mill but I see no future for them as a seriously school.

In case everyone missed this post...

...I took a class to improve my skills but dropped it after experiencing the peer review process and lackluster learning environment. Even the exam proctoring is a joke - you can assign your own proctor from someone you know, and there's no real verification or university monitoring to prevent cheating. The proctoring is weaker than taking an online certification via Pearson VUE, where an actual human monitors your webcam and microphone. I was legitimately shocked when I received the email asking me to find my own proctor and provide their contact information. Since I was simply taking classes for self-improvement, I just filled in my own alternate email and a fake name before accepting the invitation there. It worked.

On what planet would a school that allows you to "proctor" yourself get RA accreditation?

[somethingdudesomething]

On what planet would a school that allows you to "proctor" yourself get RA accreditation?

https://www.neche.org/institutions/unive...sque-isle/

UMPI was RA far before they offered proctoring alltogether, :
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-Exams-at-UMPI

So I don't think that's a valid argument. Also many online unis (even higher tier ones) have open books exam on many of their offerings (grand and undegrad).

As someone who went through proctored exams and open books ones, I can say without a doubt an open book one can be even more difficult than the proctored one, even at UoPeople later years when the courses went design changes (to the point the exam almost had no relation to any quizzes throughout the course), the time was just "on point", pretty much you have no time to cheat, either you know the material well enough to answer or you don't.

[Ares]

UMPI has proctoring now and they did not go through RA accreditation or a comprehensive evaluation during that time. Nor did they ever have a ridiculous University of the People "proctor" yourself option.

Open book is 10 times easier than proctored exams. I have done both and can pass an open book exam without taking the course so long as the book is digital. Regardless I am not talking about open book exams but specifically proctoring. Without proctored exams or submitted projects/papers any University will become a ChatGPT diploma mill.

[KSoul]

A recommendation would be to move away from this narrow bias of Academic Preachers and focus on the wins—for students, educators, and the community—and continue to build a supportive environment that empowers everyone to succeed.

I personally like to hear all perspectives of someone's experience not just the positive. Focusing only on the wins doesn't assist when there needs to be improvement. It is like telling someone to just be quiet and accept whatever bad situation that there is. Understanding how something is wrong can make improvements for even better success in the future.

My experience teaching there was negative and my attempt to be a student there was even worse. Just my experience and opinion. I saw somewhere where someone had once asked if UoPeople is legit. The person answered barely legit. Which I think is the best way to explain. They meet all the requirements but something is just off with them. Again my opinion.

Odd to make my point as if it was a new idea. Gotta love this forum.

Barely legit and RA. Makes sense

[somethingdudesomething]

UMPI has proctoring now and they did not go through RA accreditation or a comprehensive evaluation during that time. Nor did they ever have a ridiculous University of the People "proctor" yourself option.

Open book is 10 times easier than proctored exams. I have done both and can pass an open book exam without taking the course so long as the book is digital. Regardless I am not talking about open book exams but specifically proctoring. Without proctored exams or submitted projects/papers any University will become a ChatGPT diploma mill.

I tried to be as dialectic as possible but I no longer able to view this argument is in good faith, so this will be my last reply on this:
 1) UMPI last RA renewal was in 2014 as per the link I posted in my previous reply:
     https://www.neche.org/institutions/unive...sque-isle/
 2) Yet it did not introduce proctoring until 2023: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-Proctoring-for-Exams-Essay-based-for-everything-else , thus by your own logic, UMPI has been a diploma mill (along with SNHU btw), furthermore in most universities including very high tier ones, not all courses are proctored to begin with.
 3) The argument that open books exams are easier than proctored exams is really non-sensical (or indicates the argument presenter has never taken a UL open book exam). A UL open book exam on a STEM heavy subject can (and has been) much more difficult than a proctored exam on "Roman and Greek History", you simply do not have the time to even cheat.
 4) Some high tier schools, especially grad levels dont' even have "exams" per say, just projects, summative and formative papers that are instructor reviewed and good luck GPTing them (yet not proctored).

I am personally in favour of proctoring to prevent 3rd party assists, but in no way (for remote degrees at least), is this a UoPeople unique problem as the argument frames it to be just because they allow self proctoring, but also the exam at UoPeople is 50% of the course degree, let alone the transfer of credits for proctored courses drops the proctoring at UoPeople _AND_ any other Uni that accepts transfer.

I myself have been highly critical of UoPeople of many aspects, but I don't think de-valuing their RA and barring them entry to the prestigious UMPI and SNHU club for personal bias is reasonable.

Best,
HakunaMatata

[Hotdogman1]

I never really looked into UoPeople because it was NA. From what little I've read, proctoring seems to be the least of UoPeople's issues. Regardless of whether they should be RA accredited, it now has RA accreditation and could be cheap. 

I really dislike the "tuition-free" marketing they have going on and find it misleading. UoPeople has a $60 application fee, $17 for each transferred course, and $140 assessment fee for each course. While technically "tuition-free", it feels like those "Get a line, get a free phone" promotions where you end up paying an upfront $70 device tax, a $30 activation fee, and $70 in monthly plan payments. However, I expect that kind of pricing strategy at a phone store but not when researching a school. I'd rather they go for a "America’s most affordable RA University! Learn for free, pay the Final fee!", and put a flat, "everything included", $46.67 per undergrad credit hour.

You could transfer 75% of a degree so the cost of their cheapest bachelor's right now is $1,970: $60 app fee + ($17 transfer fee * 30 transfer courses) + ($140 assessment fee * 10 courses at UoPeople). 

I don't think UoPeople is better than any of the big 3. It looks like you can't choose your course order (courses pre-planned via Learning pathway) or accelerate. "Degree Students who maintain a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of ≥ 3.00 may register for up to four (4) courses per term." (https://catalog.uopeople.edu/ug_term1_it...quirements). This means it will take a year to complete the remaining 10 courses (if you transfer in 90 credits).

[LevelUP]

University of the People New RA Status

University of the People is now the most cost-effective ($1970) way to earn a computer science degree from a regionally accredited institution. However, in terms of pace, its courses are comparable to those at SNHU.

For American students seeking faster completion, options such as TESU, PUG, or WGU might be preferable. On the other hand, for international students who need a degree for immigration or career purposes, University of the People offers the most affordable choice and is likely to become very popular among them.

Academic Integrity

Regarding academic integrity, whether you attend University of the People or any other college, it’s ultimately up to you to take responsibility for your education and develop effective study habits such as learning how to read properly.

Employers will expect tangible proof of your skills, which can be demonstrated through certifications, portfolios, and other methods.

Think of college as a starting point for acquiring essential knowledge—it’s up to you to determine the best approach for continuing your learning journey.

[TaraD2020]

There is no way I would ever get a degree from a school with such a bad name.

Reviews say "Horrible"...

1: Some instructors are lazy: they generate LJ feedback via chatGPT, there is no instructor graded stuff besides LJ on some courses. Comparative programming for example, we do not even have programming assignments to submit. All you do is write discussion forum entries, get graded by peers, and you grade other entries of which some are either purely written by chatGPT or its written is a very difficult to understand english. (I can literally see if its chatGPT generated from looking at it. Conclusion: While some instructors really invest their time, some literally do nothing.

2: Peer grading: What the ? You get graded by your peers, they might say "Good job, everything is perfect" and still give you 7/10 or 8/10 or even worse. A lot of peer submissions sometimes are incomplete. For example, the PA has 5 Questions, peers only provide 1 Answer. Or the answers are purely generated by chatGPT. You might think, what do I care? Well, this gets boring and demotivating. So, grading poor work is a pain in the [insert word], and being graded by some of the people is also tiring. Constructive feedback is always welcome.

3: Content and books: Some are 30 years old. Some books are are scans without without OCR (You can not ctrl + F and look, you pretty much have to read the hole chapter to find what you look for).

4: Website is so broken and slow. Even moodle is buggy too.

5: Sometimes things on Self Quizzes or Graded Quizzes are not even covered by course material. And sometimes, graded quiz questions and self quiz questions are not even related.

6: Did not get regional accreditation and might not get it for a long time, which makes the degree useless for immigration purposes.

How the hell does a school get RA accredited with "peer-grading"? Did they pay off the accreditation institution?

DF Moderator Review...

I am really unhappy here.

My instructor mentor said I am not to:
* Dock points for plagiarism.
* Dock points for blatant chatgpt [Insert Name Here].

I got in trouble for not responding 3 times. My mentor requires a response Monday, Wednesday, Friday to students. But, all my students posted on Thursday/Friday. But, because I didn't post on Monday & Wednesday to "respond" to students it doesn't count.

I am to coach all students on AI use and plagiarism when found. About 35 of my 42 students are doing this. This is a lot to communicate to back/forth and of course its denied. Even when I show them their coursehero or studocu document they copied/pasted directly.

The peer reviews are bad. Half the students are going through and marking every discussion board as 0. So now I have to go and "adjust" everything.

My mentor is bitching at me every day with 4-5 emails that are 10-15 paragraphs long with a fake degreemill PhD for not "doing enough".

I was told by my mentor I should put student papers into ChatGPT and let it grade so I can be faster.

Apparently, me, actually highlighting, leaving actual comments, and real feedback on essays, etc, is not acceptable to this university. The mentor suggested I copy/paste responses for similar work and not cater to individuals.

No wonder most grad schools don't take this degree anymore.

This school is a mess. A huge mess.

Since I am an IT Hiring manager for a billion dollar company I am officially rejecting all applicants with a "degree" from this school. This is a joke.

Your comments are awful.  Denying someone because of the name of the school, or because there is peer grading?  I am a student in the business program, and it is NOT easy.  I have written more papers than I ever planned to in my life at this university.  Yes, there is still peer grading in my two last courses, but its a minimal % of the grade, and the work is a 2-3 page essay, so not insane.  It gives me the opportunity to see how others are completing the assignments, and improve upon my own work.  There is plenty of other work each week, which is graded by the instructors.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

There is no way I would ever get a degree from a school with such a bad name.

Reviews say "Horrible"...

1: Some instructors are lazy: they generate LJ feedback via chatGPT, there is no instructor graded stuff besides LJ on some courses. Comparative programming for example, we do not even have programming assignments to submit. All you do is write discussion forum entries, get graded by peers, and you grade other entries of which some are either purely written by chatGPT or its written is a very difficult to understand english. (I can literally see if its chatGPT generated from looking at it. Conclusion: While some instructors really invest their time, some literally do nothing.

2: Peer grading: What the ? You get graded by your peers, they might say "Good job, everything is perfect" and still give you 7/10 or 8/10 or even worse. A lot of peer submissions sometimes are incomplete. For example, the PA has 5 Questions, peers only provide 1 Answer. Or the answers are purely generated by chatGPT. You might think, what do I care? Well, this gets boring and demotivating. So, grading poor work is a pain in the [insert word], and being graded by some of the people is also tiring. Constructive feedback is always welcome.

3: Content and books: Some are 30 years old. Some books are are scans without without OCR (You can not ctrl + F and look, you pretty much have to read the hole chapter to find what you look for).

4: Website is so broken and slow. Even moodle is buggy too.

5: Sometimes things on Self Quizzes or Graded Quizzes are not even covered by course material. And sometimes, graded quiz questions and self quiz questions are not even related.

6: Did not get regional accreditation and might not get it for a long time, which makes the degree useless for immigration purposes.

How the hell does a school get RA accredited with "peer-grading"? Did they pay off the accreditation institution?

DF Moderator Review...

I am really unhappy here.

My instructor mentor said I am not to:
* Dock points for plagiarism.
* Dock points for blatant chatgpt [Insert Name Here].

I got in trouble for not responding 3 times. My mentor requires a response Monday, Wednesday, Friday to students. But, all my students posted on Thursday/Friday. But, because I didn't post on Monday & Wednesday to "respond" to students it doesn't count.

I am to coach all students on AI use and plagiarism when found. About 35 of my 42 students are doing this. This is a lot to communicate to back/forth and of course its denied. Even when I show them their coursehero or studocu document they copied/pasted directly.

The peer reviews are bad. Half the students are going through and marking every discussion board as 0. So now I have to go and "adjust" everything.

My mentor is bitching at me every day with 4-5 emails that are 10-15 paragraphs long with a fake degreemill PhD for not "doing enough".

I was told by my mentor I should put student papers into ChatGPT and let it grade so I can be faster.

Apparently, me, actually highlighting, leaving actual comments, and real feedback on essays, etc, is not acceptable to this university. The mentor suggested I copy/paste responses for similar work and not cater to individuals.

No wonder most grad schools don't take this degree anymore.

This school is a mess. A huge mess.

Since I am an IT Hiring manager for a billion dollar company I am officially rejecting all applicants with a "degree" from this school. This is a joke.

Your comments are awful.  Denying someone because of the name of the school, or because there is peer grading?  I am a student in the business program, and it is NOT easy.  I have written more papers than I ever planned to in my life at this university.  Yes, there is still peer grading in my two last courses, but its a minimal % of the grade, and the work is a 2-3 page essay, so not insane.  It gives me the opportunity to see how others are completing the assignments, and improve upon my own work.  There is plenty of other work each week, which is graded by the instructors.

I agree, that's not a professional mindset for hiring managers to have. You'll encounter people like this everywhere you go because some feel empowered by their limited quassi-authority in decision making and their personal opinions on subjects influence such and reaffirm their confirmation bias. I'm not sure if this individual has attended UoP, so it would be wrong of them to have this schema about the school. You'll see posts all the time about people questioning the authenticity of WGU [it has or even is the largest school in terms of enrolled students] because in some people's minds, an online degree must make it illegitimate and lackluster in comparison to those that "went to school". It's IT, and there are plenty of people out there that study IT and are hiring managers for both small and large organizations --  nothing special to be honest. It would be the same thing if I as a hiring manager said I wouldn't hire people with an IT degree because they really know anything about computers in comparison to those that have a CS degree. Should I view IT degrees with same bias that others have about UoP because I don't believe they know anything outside of fixing Microsoft Outlook? No. It really doesn't matter where you get you're degree from as long as the Dept. of Education recognizes the school and its respective programs. What matters here on this forum is that people receive a degree in an area that they want that is accredited. If it gets you a job, great! That's what matters.

[soba]

I think the pedagogical approach UoPeople has taken with a strict schedule, weekly readings and assignments can be very effective for many students. 100% asyncronous education is basically necessary for a truly global university. Discussion forums and peer grading create a sense of community. 

The quality of the material taught is not terrible. There is serious learning and instruction going on. It is not a diploma mill. ChatGPT is a big problem but that is true for the entire higher education sector.