I'm pursuing my PhD in Postsecondary and Adult Education and I'm taking three online courses right now. The courses are Critical Thinking, Future Topics and Trends, and Multidiversity. This is my second quarter in the school that I'm attending. My first two courses were Philosophy and Cultural Change. I've found my courses to be challenging and rewarding. My first two were my first online courses so it was difficult at first to navigate through the courses. In addition, I was tasked on a mission at a remote location of which I did not know the status of internet connectivity so I just turned in my work early towards the end. Luckily, the location did have connection which enabled me to finish my first two courses AND start on these new ones.
Pursuing a doctorate has been a lifelong dream for me and I've finally taken the steps in accomplishing this important goal. I had several choices in what school to matriculate with, and my decision came down to this school telling me that I would be getting 48 elective credits to start off with which is the maximum they would allow for any prospective student. Although this school was the most expensive out of all my choices, I calculated that it would be better in the long run since they would give me the most credits to start out with. One of my other alternatives was to just get another Masters in Adult Education but to me, it seemed to be just backtracking instead of moving ahead.
Now, I get an e-mail from the school's admissions office telling me that I am getting 24 credits instead of the 48 that I was told before I started taking classes. I was told that the admissions office made a mistake in calculating my previous work but will look into giving me more credit from another school that I took Masters courses with back in 1997. Needless to say, I'm angry and frustrated because I thought that I was so much closer to my degree and now this puts me behind 24 credits. I could understand if they were only a few credits off, but they were HALF of what I was told I would get. I am paying out of pocket for this degree and using my GI bill to cover all my expenses so I have a little bit more vested interest in how many credits I would be given.
I was upset for a while, and to be honest I still am because I was going full speed ahead with this school taking the maximum three classes and even made plans to go to my first colloquium (there are 3 residency requirements) during my R&R (rest and recuperation) leave. In the meantime, I will continue to forge ahead with my classes BUT I am also looking into using Tuition Assistance and get a Masters in Adult Education because at least that will be paid for by the military since there is a clause in the regulation that if it's an education degree that gives teaching credentials, it will not matter if I already have a masters. The only catch is that I will owe two years in the Army AFTER my LAST course. Which will not be a problem if I'm staying in until retirement.
I have a lot of things to think about, but for now, I have to work on my literature review for my Critical Thinking course that I've been procrastinating on for 3 days.
My intention is not to discourage anyone from pursuing their higher learning from this school, but I do advise you to make sure that they give you the final statement for however many electives they promised you BEFORE you start taking classes from them. Perhaps mine is just an isolated case of an honest mistake but I'm the one who has to suffer the consequences. I'm going to wait for their assessment of my other course work to see if they give me credit, and due to the sensitivity of this matter at this time, I will not divulge the name of the school. I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself based on the degree I'm pursuing, they use quarters instead of semesters and that they're online courses. So, please don't ask me.
-PhD learner, Postsecondary and Adult Education
