Newlane University - My experience so far

[Mint Berry Crunch]

I've been watching Newlane for my niece. I think it's a cheap and good way for someone in her early 20's to get an accredited degree at potentially a slow pace. She's busy with work, life and needs extra time with school. She already has her diploma in healthcare, and this would give her a degree. Are there any current students that can validate the school? The school doesn't have much activity on the Internet.

I did an interview a couple of years ago with the school to inquire about their Bachelors program. It is a CBE school that you pay a one time flat fee for (or monthly payments towards the overall principle) and you have unlimited time to do the course work. You just pay the listed price. However, what they don't tell you is that when you are completing the course work, including the final project, you have to schedule a meeting with the course instructor as they ask you questions on the material throughout the course at the end of the course. You can not pass the course until after satisfying the questions asked by the course professor. If they don't believe your responses are strong enough, you have to go back, study, and schedule another interview with them. So essentially, the work that is supposed to be a summative assessment (scored results indicating that you proven/demonstrated mastery) in the form of a final project is in fact, not the final project, and just another formative assessment. It's like playing Dark Souls and thinking that you defeated the boss after their HP drops to zero, only to realize that they get a second health bar. The guy seems nice, the philosophy behind education is sound, but the execution seems counterintuitive to it all. I'm not against being asked questions, of all things, it increases the learning experience. However if there's a final project, it should be THE final project. Either remove the "final project" or remove the interview aspect from the courses.