Verity Institute Dual Enrollment

[dcan]

I sent the following e-mail to Verity last night:

Hello,

I came across your website today and was wondering about your tuition structure. Can you please explain what service you provide that justifies $20-25K in tuition charges for taking CLEP tests? I can achieve the same degree, through Thomas Edison, for $100 per test plus about $3K in tuition fees, total cost around $5K depending on the degree and the path used to get there. I can't see what service you provide that justifies 4x the cost for the same degree, but I could be wrong and I would love to know more about your service.

Thank you for your help.

I got this response today:

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in Verity. Verity was designed to help people secure a bachelor's degree from a Biblical perspective with half the cost and half the time. If all a student wants is to take CLEP tests then you are right-it would be more financially beneficial for them to pursue this on their own without enrolling in Verity. However, students who wish to secure a bachelor's degree receive the following:

• teaching from a Biblical perspective
  
• access to student forum which includes
  
• class sessions on DVDs
  
• flashcards
  
• powerpoints
  
• a proposed schedule to follow during your course of study
  
• practice tests
  
• program advisement
  
• in-state tuition
  
• study guides for each test developed by the Verity curriculum development department created to help students know where to focus their attention due to the timeframe students are given to study.
  

For campus students, you may access all the above mentioned items while also benefiting from live classroom instruction and student group study sessions.

So that I can better serve you, please tell me a little more about yourself? What are you interested in studying? Do you have any previously earned credit? When would you be interested in starting?

Please let me know if you have any further questions. I am here to support you in your academic goals and making sure you receive the best education possible at the lowest cost possible, from the best Christian perspective possible, in the quickest time possible.

I look forward to serving you!

OK so let's break these down...

1. "Teaching from a Biblical perspective" -- If you are providing CLEP study guides, what teaching is there and how is it "Biblical"?
   
2. "Access to student forum which includes" -- unfinished sentence, and you have a student forum right here, for free
   
3. "Class sessions on DVDs" -- class sessions for CLEP tests?
   
4. "flashcards" -- InstantCert.com, $20/month right here
   
5. "powerpoints" -- Oh God...
   
6. "a proposed schedule..." -- you get that right here
   
7. "practice tests" -- tons of links to practice tests here, and I think civilians can pay for Peterson's tests at about $20 or so
   
8. "program advisement" -- again, you get that here from smart and helpful people who have "been there, done that"
   
9. "in-state tuition" -- pshyeah, for 4 years when you could do it for 1/4 the cost even paying out-of-state!
   
10. "study guides for each test..." -- yes, they are called REA, Barron's, Peterson's, etc all available for about $20 or less each
    

So please let me summarize:

We re-package advice you can get for free, study guides you can get dirt cheap, and tests you can take dirt cheap, and charge you four times as much as you need to pay during this horrible recession. Because That's What Jesus Would Do.

As a Christian, this makes me sick, seriously.

Look, tell you what, you want to spend money to make sure the teaching is worth it? Fine, send me $25K and I will ask questions here and make calls to TESC on your behalf all day long.

I'll admit that doing this on your own is daunting and can seem overwhelming. But if you realize that most of the hurdle is learning the ropes about things like accreditation and credit transfer policies and generally how colleges work, it really breaks the elephant down to bite-sized chunks. It does take a lot of effort and self-education, but it does pay off. I understand more about how schools operate than many of my peers who went to the schools. And I still know only a tiny bit.

If there is really something this "institution" provides that is an intangible (lots of hand-holding through the process, a "biblical" approach, etc) that is worth $25K -- and for you there may well be -- then that is a decision you have to make yourself. I just hate to see someone throw that kind of money away if it isn't necessary. But like I said, maybe there are intangibles I'm not addressing, if so then more power to you. And you are always welcome to ask for help with the tests here either way.