University of Phoenix Student Review

Today we will be hearing from Megan about her experience with the University of Phoenix online. Megan has tried numerous different types of college experiences, including state college, community college, tech school, for-profit, brick and mortar, and now online.

University of Phoenix On-Campus Experience

Megan started her University of Phoenix education while in California, by attending on-campus classes at a satellite campus there. The course Megan took was a five-week course, and class was one night per week, which lasted about four hours. Classes included lectures, group studies and projects, homework, and tests, similarly with many educational experiences. In Megan’s specific class, students were required to read 4 chapters of text, and complete one to two papers per week. Students were also required to participate in class through various methods, and that was a part of the grade. About her on-campus experience with University of Phoenix, Megan says,

“I highly, highly recommend it.”

University of Phoenix Online Experience

Megan starts off by saying that her online experience with the University of Phoenix wasn’t quite as good as her on-campus experience, but wasn’t all bad either. She started with another five-week course, with very similar requirements in terms of weekly reading and work as her on-campus course had. But, considering it is an online course, the participation grade included 8 “participation posts” per week on top of the other work. Essentially 8 more mini assignments per week. Another issue she had with the online course was the difficulty in collaborating on group projects that were assigned throughout the course.

While she had her difficulties with University of Phoenix online, Megan discredits the claims that students go to University of Phoenix just to pay for a degree, and don’t actually learn anything or do any work. She says that she learned a lot in her time there, and is very proud of her 3.65 GPA and psychology degree because she worked hard for it.

University of Phoenix Degree

According to Megan, University of Phoenix has a very low graduation rate, around 20%. Which is another point to discredit the idea that students don’t have to work for their degrees. Megan is very proud to have finished her degree in Psychology with University of Phoenix online. University of Phoenix is set up in 5-week courses, so you have to be ready to move quickly. Learning a full textbook’s worth of material in 5 weeks is not easy, so dedication to studying and getting your degree is key in this fast-paced, online environment. Many online students, including Megan, have jobs to keep up as well as class-work, which can add to the stress of online courses. Scheduling ahead and staying on schedule were key for Megan to handle being a student, employee, and Mom all at the same time.

University of Phoenix Costs

Megan says the cost to attend University of Phoenix is around $10,000-$16,000 per year. Tuition fees are $9,548 for a year at University of Phoenix, plus $114 for origination fees, and then costs of text books and other equipment. She received some help in the form of a Pell Grant, but says she still owes about $40,000 for student loans. So, while it is still much cheaper to attend University of Phoenix than the cost of traditional Universities, it isn’t anything.

While Megan had her ups and downs in her time at the University of Phoenix, she highly recommends the school to prospective students and says that getting her degree was extremely rewarding for her.