University of Phoenix The University of Phoenix is NOT A REAL SCHOOL Internet

It sounds like you have worked very hard and are proud of it. You should be! But technically there is no such thing as an AA in Psychology.

You can get your AA with an emphasis on certain fields of study.
You don't call your education a degree in anything until it is a bachelors degree.
It is only an emphasis on a field of study when it is an AA. It is called an Associate of Arts Degree.

You still take many generalized courses with an AA that you do not take with higher degrees. After the AA you are allowed to claim a major and minor. That becomes a degree in something.

And if you went to a school that said you had an AA degree specifically "in" Psychology, that is a red flag. You don't have a degree in it. You chose a package of classes with an emphasis on Psychology.

I went to a community college and my guidance counselor never spent less than an hour helping me sort through the best plans of action a couple times a year.

If for profit, online schools work for you, then more power to you. Do you know if all the credits transfer? You may end up with only some of them transfering. I would really check that out.

What you are saying about slackers I found it a little narcissistic. Like you are all that and a bag of chips and anyone who has problems just doesn't care.

There are plenty of online horror stories about for profit schools. People are talking real problems, not crying in their beer because life is unfair.  The majority of students try their hardest to advance themselves through education. And many of today's students have already worked and raised families. Or are raising families. Not too much slacking off there...

The real problem seems to be that people are not getting the education they need to compete in the job market.  The movie "College, Inc" makes these things very clear. I believe it was made through PBS and Nova. No ulterior motives there. Before you criticize the person who started this thread I suggest you watch it. I saw it on Netflix.

You might want to verify everything with a traditional college and also canvas potential employers about how they feel about online education. Because it sounds like you have a lot of ambition. If I were you I would not waste another minute with online schools until I found out for sure the value of that education in the real world.

I have been with UOP for three years now as an online student. I hold my A.A. Degree in Psychology from Axia and now I am in their B.S. program for Business. The students who are not reading their chapters and participating in the forums or asking questions are those who are not educated from this school. All of the tools are there for students to learn. No matter what school you choose to attend, you get out of your education what you put into it.  I do not know what the issue was at UOP and you working there as a Professor, but it seems as though maybe there is another underlying issue here. Were you maybe fired or something else? If you felt so strongly that UOP does not give real degrees, why did you work for them to begin with? I have never had difficulites with financial aid, academic advisors, facilitators, or any other issue. I know all of my loans have to be paid back six months after I graduate. We have a college here in Gainesville, Florida which is UF.  They are one of the top colleges in the United States and they accept all credits from Axia/UOP.  I verified all of this and I have emails stating they accept UOP. So people filing complaints about UOP did not listen about financial aid, participation requirements, or anything else. It's based upon ignorance of the people. Stop blaming the school to be a diploma mill. Oh, and they do not hire Professors. Your title was facilitator. They enjoy hiring people to teach students about the real world. End of story.

What a sham. They need to be shut down or restructured like regular colleges and universities.

I looked into University of Phoenix Online when I wanted to expand my education as a Web Designer. I called a recruiter and got the heebie jeebies. Smarmy. Icky. Yuck.

As a web designer, I have learned everything I know on my own. I've been doing web design for many years. I was floored at the $26,000 cost. I could teach someone how to make websites for much less.

I was curious about the curriculum for Business Systems Analyst because I used to work closely with BSA in the aerospace industry. Did I get a shock! $72,000 for a degree.

The UofP course descriptions left me a little concerned. Way too general. If anyone wants to compare that with a real university offering, look up what the University of Washington says about their Foster School of Business, Business Admin Information Systems degree suggests. Please trust me. The UofW is offering a much deeper curriculum. I can tell by the language they use to describe the courses. But that is because I worked in the industry for a long time. Laymen will not understand the difference.

UofP may touch the surface of what business systems analysis is. But I do not believe they can stand up to accredited colleges with this.

I recently watched a show on Frontline called, "College, Inc." On that show an executive from UofP was bragging on how UofP was better than conventional colleges because they could create any curriculum needed for any degree. Guess how this miracle is going to happen? Why not lock professors into a hotel for the weekend until they came up with a good stragegy? Lock people into a hotel room? Are you kidding?

It takes a lot more than donuts and a weekend in a hotel room to structure a curriculum for students. You need teamwork in a facility geared for it. You need to consult with people who are experts at capturing and documenting ideas. Then distilling the parts down into a workable package.  Agh! You don't lock people into a hotel room. That's kidnapping and a ridiculous way of making a point. This is nuts!

In fact, the whole UofP thing seems too surface with little underneath.

After the smarmy recruiter talked to me I read quite a bit about UofP and decided against it. But it took almost two years before the recruiter stopped calling me, trying to convince me to sign my life away on the dotted line.