Excelsior College - The Same Education at Triple the Price

[UptonSinclair]

As many of you know, I am very critical of higher education. For the money we spend on courses, it is reasonable to expect a quality product. Unfortunately, quality is lacking at Excelsior. The course I am currently taking is little more than a canned product provided by Pearson. This is a similar experience to what I had at my local community college except Excelsior charges three times as much. The course is taught by a part time professor with a Master's degree which is the same as my local cc. The course uses MyMathLab for assignments just like my local cc. Finally, the only items graded by the professor are mandatory discussion posts that add little to nothing to the course. So far the professor's posts could be pasted in from a selection of about three responses. They are little more than a "good job" or "excellent work".

Colleges seem to think they are nothing more than proctors for the publishers. If this is the case, why can't we get a degree from McGraw Hill or Pearson? One area that could make a college stand out is video lectures. For the price we are paying for classes, the colleges could afford to pay a skilled professor to provide a set of lectures. With the abundance of technology available, the expense would be minimal in comparison to value they would add.

After experiencing the quality of instruction first hand, I consider Excelsior a good option for those who only plan to take the capstone and get their degree.