American Sentinel University

Great School but need to take next step for Accreditation come on Rich and Mary whats the hold up get with the program. 

I found this blog very useful and depressing. I was thinking of applying and attending ASU but after checking out their accreditation, I would have to pass. I am looking for to obtain a MS in computer science and than transfer to a campus school. I just found out that the campus schools in my area will not recognize credits from this school. I will be applying to a state school which I came to find out offers low tuition when compare to ASU, about 100 less per credit hour. Since the state school is regionally accredited I can transfer those credit to a better know school. 

Hi all, just have to say that I finished my MS IS  From ASU a while back. I think that each one will have a different experience with this sort of school. Your experience will depend on course, motivation, leaning objectives etc. I took this route to formalize my practical experience and I did not expect to learn something new. Amazingly, some of the courses where very demanding and to graduate you have to put up a serious effort. Having said this, I think that the school would and should gain RA. The school has been around for some time and during my 5 years with ASU I only saw the school improving. I can say that distance education is challenging. Also, prices will continue to rise as long as students continue to ask for more support which has to be subsidized somehow. Also, for those that don't know, ASU gauges student satisfaction on periodic basis and I think they read these and other posts which is very healthy to say the least.

Good news - ASU is DETC accredited which means the degrees are legitimate. The US DOE and a good number of employers do not distinguish between regional and national accreditation.

Bad news - Credit transfer will be a problem if you plan to transfer to a "well-known" regionally accredited school in the future (including and especially AACSB accredited universities). There are some schools that consider DETC degrees/credits and they are listed in the HETA (Higher Education Transfer Alliance) website. Then again, it depend on that particular school. FACT - the majority of regional schools do not support DETC degrees. Moreover, ASU tuition is pricey ($450/credit for the Masters - WTF?!!!)compared to other DETC institutions. Make sure you plan ahead before you enroll in a DETC accredited school. 

American Sentinel University is still not regionally accredited.  They have in some way or another promised this since all the way back in 2003 (possibly before then).  They have increased their tuition on average 10% each year for no apparent reason.  Tuition was $250 per credit hour in 2007 and now in 2011 it is $350.  Be careful - your classes will most likely not transfer to another university!  Say you earn your Bachelor Degree at American Sentinel and want to get your Master at a different regionally accredited school.  Guess what.  Your classes will more than likely not transfer.  Be very wary of this school.  Spend some time and research this for yourself!  I'm glad I did.  I'm staying away from American Sentinel University until they actually do become regionally accredited.  That could be a while.

I thought I would chime in here.  First of all, I already have a Doctor of Medicine, but wanted to pick up a BS then MS in a totally different field.  

I've taken 5 courses so far at ASU, and I have found the school to be invested in its students.  I'm in the Computer Science program, and the instructors have been excellent!  My instructors always participate in discussions, return queries within 24 hours and promptly grade assignments and tests.  

They seem to take student input seriously and have canned a few professors recently.  There will always be a few problem instructors at any online university.

I will be taking the Telecommunications and Networking course next.  The 2003 edition is still used.  The instructor is new, however.  I reviewed (though Amazon.com) six book reviews for networking.  There are only a few that are exceptional.  "Computer Networking" by Kurose and Ross got good reviews and is used in the Master's level course here at ASU.  Palmer's 2003 edition for networks is still considered a good introductory text.  Whether or not the dated material will effect what I will learn for the course is yet to be seen.  I'll try to remember to post in  8 weeks.

You stated the following:

"I also was accepted last year into a doctoral program without any problems. I would argue that they will have regional accreditation in a year or less."

Two items here:

1. Please state which university accepted you to the doctoral program 'without any problem'.

2. Please provide proof upon which you base your argument that 'they will have regional accreditation in a year or less'.

As I thought. No answer since you did not tell the truth. Any schmuck such as yourself can claim anything.

You stated the following:

"I also was accepted last year into a doctoral program without any problems. I would argue that they will have regional accreditation in a year or less."

Two items here:

1. Please state which university accepted you to the doctoral program 'without any problem'.

2. Please provide proof upon which you base your argument that 'they will have regional accreditation in a year or less'.

I graduated in 2009 with an MS in information systems. I have a masters in management as well from another school. American Sentinel is the best experience that I have had. The structured format is great and the instructors take time to explain things when you have issues. 

The school was created from two other schools and is a Vanderbilt University Technology company. They are outstanding university. I would recommended this university to anyone I thought would study hard. They are in the process of gaining regional accreditation, the reason that the do not have it is that they are so new. DTEC is a great accreditation, they are also accredited for nursing and some other fields by academic accrediting bodies. 

I also was accepted last year into a doctoral program without any problems. I would argue that they will have regional accreditation in a year or less. The school is solid, don't overlook it. I tried WGU first, which has regional accreditation and it was like taking a correspondence course, but worse. I am sure that some people have had decent experiences there, but I did not.

Does anyone enrolled in MS Nursing program? Any feedback will be appreicated. Thanks

Here is a cold slap in the face of financial reality.
Let's assume that a bachelors program has a total tuition cost of $32,000 (not including textbooks; it could however cost a bit more). Let's also assume that you get a loan at 6.5% interest (the average rate). You would then pay the following:

$363/month for 120 payments (10 years)
$11,600 in total interest
$43,600 total owed (not including textbook costs which could run $2,000-$3,000).

Currently, we are at all time highs in student loan defaults. This is because they seem not to understand the real total costs. It can be worse than this. Some owe much more than $43,600. However, I would say that if you can go to a community college and then transfer to a public university you will be able to complete your education for a tiny fraction of this total.

Think it over well before making a terrible mistake with your life.

@Evan

When did you go to this school? It much more than $750 per class. 1,155 is the cost today if you take at least 12 units a year. $1500 if you take a single class.

I have only read through the literature from this school and I have to agree with you 100%.

To sum this school up in 1 word - Garbage.

I started my BSCS program with them 9 weeks ago.  Everything seemed great until I got my book.  Remember I am going to school for computer science.  The book is dated 2003.  This is a class for computer networking.  2003? really?  Requirements were Windows NT, or Windows 2000 installed on your computer.  The book spoke of Windows XP as if it was the newest greatest thing.  Who has Windows 2000 installed on their home computer in 2010?

I ask the first week of class why we have such dated material.  The instructor says that he will try and find out from the people that wrote the course.  The next day I get the answer that they were busy compressing the course from 12 weeks to 8 weeks and did not have time to update to a newer text.  This should have been a sign for me to run the other way.  I told the instructor I felt as if that answer translated to: "we did not get around to it so you get what we have."  He managed to talk me into sticking with the course and told me that the networking industry does not change that quickly that it is still good information.


I would like to note that the text makes very clear that the telecommunications and networking technologies move at an extremely fast rate, contradictory to what the instructor told me at the beginning of the course.

At week 2 I find out I got a 0 for week one because they signed me up for the same class twice.  I call my academic adviser, who never returns my call, but the double course did disappear.  The classroom I was participating in gives me 100% for week one, but that does not show up on my actual grade.  I call again, no response.  Over the course of the 8 week class I called multiple times and never received a response.

The instructor never once participated in discussion.  I would receive grades before the week was even up on discussions I had not satisfied the schools requirements on yet.  And on my final assignment I purposely provided all wrong information to prove the instructors don't read them.  Guess what grade I got..... 100%!!!  How am I supposed to know if I actually learned the material correctly?  

If you want to pay $750 a class to read the book and get credit for it, this is your school.  Have fun while I await the call from my worthless academic adviser to correct my grade.  Not that it much matters because I will just take this class again at whatever my next school is, because I want to be sure I get an education, not just pay for a degree.

I just started attending American Sentinel Univ. this past January and so far everything seems to be going well. I am a Military student and taking the BSIS Program with hopes to graduate sometime next year, with the amount of credits that were transferred from my previous school (Kaplan). The tuition is very reasonable and the staff has been very helpful as well.   I believe the school is a Nationally accredited school, but they are soon to be going regionally acccredited as well from what I am hearing. Great school, Good luck!

As far as I know the answer is "no". I have many teacher friends that I have known for over twenty years. Not a single one is a graduate of a DETC school. They all attended RA universities. I would check this out very, very carefully before going to a DETC school with the intension of teaching later.

Hi all.
I am currently a student there. Finished few classes.
I have a general comment about DETC.
Can you get teaching position in educational institution with DETC accreditation? 
I am simply curious.

can anyone provide input on the MS business Intelligence or the MBA program?

Fast pace with small class setup; usually 6 to 10 students in a class and the profs are helpful. The downside is that not too much online discussions are taking place.