Northern Arizona University Launches Competency-Based Online Degree Program

[Yanji]

Not sure if anyone else commented on it already, but NAU's business school appears to be AACSB accredited, which is often a checkbox to get into some of the more prestigious graduate programs.

Untrue. AACSB is often a prereq to get into less prestigious MBA/MAcc programmes but nobody cares about or shows off their AACSB accreditation in the top 30. I was invited to interview for the MBA programs at Indiana, UCLA, Georgetown, UT Austin, Emory and Yale without an AACSB degree and I got into three of them. I know that my academic pedigree isn't good enough to get into Northwestern (my dream school), but that would be true even if I attended CSU East Bay or another anonymous AACSB school. Hopkins and McGill have unaccredited business schools and nobody who attends those schools care, and nobody attending Frostburg State is under the impression that their AACSB degree is worth more than a business degree from Hopkins. Unlike regional accreditation which is a de facto legal requirement, AACSB accreditation doesn't actually mean very much other than some companies' tuition reimbursement policies and a seal of approval for admission into certain MBA/MIM/MAcc (mainly MAcc) programs outside the top 30-40. AACSB accreditation is still a nice thing to have in some situations (especially for accounting), but it's far from necessary to pursue graduate business studies, especially because most people in MBA programs are not even business majors and 1/4 - 1/2 of students at pretty much every good business school are international students.

As for accreditation, it would be best to make sure that NAU's SBA degree is offered through their business school rather than the faculty of social sciences/extended education/etc. AACSB accreditation only applies to constituent colleges/schools of a university and is not a blanket accreditation. For example, a MS in HR Management from NYU SCPS would not be AACSB, because only the Stern holds that accreditation and likewise an ALM in Management from Harvard Extension would not be AACSB because only HBS is accredited.

Back on topic, this seems like a great program from NAU. With the rise of ASU's research profile, ASU Colleges and now this from NAU, it looks like Arizona's universities are really trying to raise their profile to reflect the growing population of their state.

I am interested in the CIT degree from NAU. I do not currently have a degree, but I do have over 25 years experience as a software developer. One option would be for me to enroll in NAU and begin your program, but I already have a lot of non-traditional credits (CLEP, DSST, ACE, etc). So, my plan is to just finish the rest of the testing I need to get my BA in Liberal Studies from Thomas Edison State College (TESC). I should be done around Christmas or Q1 of 2014.

Why not just do UMass Lowell's 30 credit post-bacc BS in IT? It's almost criminally flexible (almost entirely electives) and UML is considered a respectable state school in the Northeast and has name recognition in many Northern states and Canada because of their fantastic ice hockey program. They recently moved into Div I in a relatively brainy conference too, which should only boost their national stature. It does cost more than 1 year at NAU but it's still only about $11000, which isn't bad all things considered.