California Coast University

I earned a M.S in Engineering Management in 1999 and since then have not had one company question the value of my degree. The course work was very thorough and challenging. Due to my work schedule I took several years to complete the degree and CCU supported my over the time and while I worked is several foreign countries. I see they no longer offer the engineering programs, which is unfortunate as my experience tells me these programs were well worth the effort. I graded their "Use of Technology" low, but this was 15 years ago and I suspect they have caught up with available educational technology. VH Homer

Jerry 1986 PhD Engineering Management retired again for the third time which is voluntary due to old age 69. Since my previous review I learned the Engineering program continued to operate at CCU for students who were already enrolled, but new students were not being accepted into the Engineering program by agreement with DETC. My CCU degrees helped me to succeed in corporate careers, and enabled me to work in a large central research laboratory where nearly everyone had a PhD. The CCU degree enabled me to find continuing employment when needed occasionally in old age and to continue working until I chose to retire. The CCU program works best for adults already established in a career, and for fast paced self motivated students who are looking to document their accumulated education or augment professional skills that have already been developed. Over the years I've noticed occasional criticism of CCU from traditional educators, and some of the complaints went to court, where CCU has a track record of wining judgments. For students I guess it means that CCU is legitimate, but college degrees from CCU might need to be defended. In 29 years I only got one question about my CCU degree and answered it by quoting documents from the State of California and a federal court decision, which ended the discussion. I did become better informed about topics on education than most people I met from traditional colleges. A lot of traditional colleges have added self paced programs similar to CCU. So the students may have benefited from pioneering work of CCU, even if they chose a traditional college.

Jerry 1986 PhD Engineering Management - Twice retired, but working again full time. Since my previous review 7 November 2010, I learned from a California State Government source that state approval of degree programs at California Coast University is continuing under a new agency, replacing an agency that was phased out. The university has also added a link for state approval on its web site. It is important for students from foreign countries where state approval is the standard of legitimacy. Recent accreditation is a benefit to students. Some critics have attempted to make a distinction between new accredited degrees and previous state approved degrees. There is no real merit to such claims. Most of the famous older universities operated under state approvals before the regional accrediting associations were created. There has never been any discounting of the earlier degrees. My PhD is accepted by my employer and co-workers, many of whom have traditional graduate degrees. The same was true with my previous employers, but probably not at traditional universities in the United States. I do confidential work and am strongly restricted about what I can publish, but did manage to get a patent and a few publications in my career.

Jerry 1986 PhD Engineering Management - Twice retired, but still working part time. The CCU program gave me the information I needed to succeed in the job I was doing in large corporations at that time. Sometimes the degree helps to get a new job. Other times it doesn’t. It always helps on the job to move into a closer contact with the top management where they care more about abilities than a document approved by a non profit organization. I do fast paced and highly confidential technical auditing to prevent factories from being closed by faulty reports from the financial computers. My average result is to find 11% discrepancy in the gross revenue of systems that have been certified by licensed financial auditors from accredited programs. There is a gaping hole in American education from accredited universities for technical auditing in factories. CCU has helped to fill a gap in the past, but that part of the program is being lost in the improvements at CCU for compliance with the accrediting process. It is sad to see the Engineering Management program being phased out, because the unique mix of skills is not available else where. In addition to CCU degrees I have a number of professional licenses, honors, awards, and other college degrees from accredited colleges. The CCU degrees are helpful as a part of the lifetime learning, but I would be reluctant to depend on them as the only achievement in higher education. At CCU it is also sad to see the state approval being phased out, because that was the deciding factor in choosing CCU. Much of my work is in foreign countries where state approval is the only recognized legitimacy. Non profit accrediting is treated as a joke in foreign countries, except maybe for the most famous American universities, where legitimacy is presumed to exist. DETC accreditation is a plus, especially with it’s expansion into PhD programs. CCU is not for everyone. It woks best in established careers where the employer is supportive of the continuing education. A CCU degree is not as portable in USA as regionally accredited degrees. That’s one reason employers like it.