10-06-2026, 02:04 PM
I wanted to provide some information on what it's been like as a student in the inaugural session of KU Jayhawk Flex HOPE program (Human and Organizational Performance Effectiveness). I was very excited to begin my masters here at this respected R1 school, and with tuition at $4,165 a semester, I figured maybe 2 full sessions and a summer session (half price), around $10,000 total doesn't seem bad. I enjoyed the program when I first started it in August. There are 30 competencies - "short classes" you work at your own pace - worth 1 credit each. One of my earlier competencies the final project was to plan a trip to Disney World for a family of 4. A lot of the reading materials and videos were interesting and could be applicable anywhere - if you go work at Dick's Sporting Goods, or a non-profit. It seemed surely this was a good degree to invest in for someone who wants to be able to work in a variety of fields in their lifetime. I liked the first instructor, she gave thoughtful feedback, and this program is a pass/fail basis, so if you don't do something right they kick it back to you to fix until it is right according to their standards. I had to do that more times than getting a "complete" on the first try, which is fine.
After doing work in 2-3 of the competencies, I wondered if it was actually a good fit for me because the program seemed very pro-organization and not so much emphasis was placed on listening to the actual employees of an organization, so I reached out to the school and told them I want to withdraw without penalty before the 9/7 deadline. They said wait! We have other classes you might like better! So instead of dropping I enrolled in different competencies. (This I regret now). The next set was with a different instructor. Projects required you to interview people at an organization to do research on their culture. But you can't do the one you work in, and you can't do one if you're unable to speak to people on all different levels, and apparently you can't do a company where you know people. This has proven to be quite a challenge being able to find an organization to use. In addition, it feels like the lines are redrawn and the goalposts moved. I know this is a new program and they need to iron out the kinks but for that project I mentioned, the instructor decided to add an extra caveat that wasn't there in the original module, that they need to approve of the interview questions too, and on another class assignment they decided it should be done a certain way (subject headings on paper) even though the other assignments were all done another way.
If you are able to work on this without having other obligations/ jobs, it could be useful, but I have found it to be frustrating. When I requested to withdraw shortly after the full refund date - since they convinced me to switch classes instead of drop - they wouldn't allow it even though there was nowhere for this first cohort to get any information from other people about what the program is like so it would have been nice to have some flexibility in their policy.
After doing work in 2-3 of the competencies, I wondered if it was actually a good fit for me because the program seemed very pro-organization and not so much emphasis was placed on listening to the actual employees of an organization, so I reached out to the school and told them I want to withdraw without penalty before the 9/7 deadline. They said wait! We have other classes you might like better! So instead of dropping I enrolled in different competencies. (This I regret now). The next set was with a different instructor. Projects required you to interview people at an organization to do research on their culture. But you can't do the one you work in, and you can't do one if you're unable to speak to people on all different levels, and apparently you can't do a company where you know people. This has proven to be quite a challenge being able to find an organization to use. In addition, it feels like the lines are redrawn and the goalposts moved. I know this is a new program and they need to iron out the kinks but for that project I mentioned, the instructor decided to add an extra caveat that wasn't there in the original module, that they need to approve of the interview questions too, and on another class assignment they decided it should be done a certain way (subject headings on paper) even though the other assignments were all done another way.
If you are able to work on this without having other obligations/ jobs, it could be useful, but I have found it to be frustrating. When I requested to withdraw shortly after the full refund date - since they convinced me to switch classes instead of drop - they wouldn't allow it even though there was nowhere for this first cohort to get any information from other people about what the program is like so it would have been nice to have some flexibility in their policy.
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