07-19-2024, 04:55 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-01-2026, 06:23 PM by Jonathan Whatley.)
The DEAC accredits the Elmwood Institute which currently offers one program, a Master of Leadership and Management.
Tuition is currently listed as $25 per credit x 36 credits = $900 for the entire degree ($75 per 3-credit course).
Each course is completed within a 16-week term but is described as "self-paced." The start of each calendar month is the start of a new 16-week term, so terms overlap.
In addition to the 12 courses there is a comprehensive exam or an approved project.
A bachelor's degree or international equivalent is required for admission.
Edited in July 2025: At its launch the Elmwood Institute was a division of Patten University. In its June 2025 meeting the DEAC approved Elmwood's application to launch as an independent university.
Edited in June 2026: The Elmwood Institute is now the Frontier Institute of Technology at frontiertech.edu, and tuition and fees have increased somewhat from the rest of this post.
The following is background information about Elmwood's former affiliation with Patten University. The non-Elmwood Institute main body of Patten University continues to offer several programs at more normal tuition, $330 per credit graduate level. This Patten University is not regionally accredited. The name has a complicated history. A school named Patten University was once a brick-and-mortar institution in Oakland, California and once held regional accreditation from WASC, but in several asset sales it converted to for-profit online and then lost its accreditation. Later its name was acquired by American Graduate University. AGU then changed its name to Patten University while retaining AGU's own pre-existing national accreditation from the DEAC.
Tuition is currently listed as $25 per credit x 36 credits = $900 for the entire degree ($75 per 3-credit course).
Each course is completed within a 16-week term but is described as "self-paced." The start of each calendar month is the start of a new 16-week term, so terms overlap.
In addition to the 12 courses there is a comprehensive exam or an approved project.
A bachelor's degree or international equivalent is required for admission.
Edited in July 2025: At its launch the Elmwood Institute was a division of Patten University. In its June 2025 meeting the DEAC approved Elmwood's application to launch as an independent university.
Edited in June 2026: The Elmwood Institute is now the Frontier Institute of Technology at frontiertech.edu, and tuition and fees have increased somewhat from the rest of this post.
The following is background information about Elmwood's former affiliation with Patten University. The non-Elmwood Institute main body of Patten University continues to offer several programs at more normal tuition, $330 per credit graduate level. This Patten University is not regionally accredited. The name has a complicated history. A school named Patten University was once a brick-and-mortar institution in Oakland, California and once held regional accreditation from WASC, but in several asset sales it converted to for-profit online and then lost its accreditation. Later its name was acquired by American Graduate University. AGU then changed its name to Patten University while retaining AGU's own pre-existing national accreditation from the DEAC.
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