
University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs - tomato2juice
https://www.uopeople.edu/
======
dart600
Hi. I attended this school and then got accepted to another more standard
institution, which I applied at the same time to. The new institution,
learning I had been attending U of the P, promptly told me that U of the P
credits would not transfer. Universal transferability in question, I opted
out.

I did enjoy meeting people from all walks of life, all over the world.
However, I also saw a grossly wide range of educational professionalism in the
students. In the introductory mandatory writing course, for example,there were
a number of classmates whom could not grasp the idea of plagiarism being
unethical. With a plagiarism assignment graded by those peers, it was
difficult to not feel like higher educational learning was moving along for
oneself at a progressively intellectually challenging pace.

~~~
themodelplumber
> could not grasp the idea of plagiarism being unethical

I remember experiencing this at a private religious university. At the time,
my hyper-religious mind was blown to see students outright cheating in the
Testing Center.

Since then I've been exposed to additional perspectives on plagiarism. It is
an extremely deep and nuanced topic. A few years out of school, I ended up
mentoring and then teaching college students who seem to match the sort of
person you describe. This was a huge shock at first.

The more I learned about these students, the more I learned about the sheer
variety of perceptions involved: One person's fairness concept is, to another
person or group, a latent power dynamic which ought to be questioned.

Or, this person's concern for the big-picture ethical questions is this other
person's small-picture roadblock in an economic problem which seems more
urgent with each passing moment. You want a big picture? Can you justify it in
seconds, with something that's not simply a subjective perception or largely-
covert moral construct of your own?

Yet another person's assumption of perpetually commonly-understood contract is
another's baroque exercise in cleverness and flexibility. It's the sneaky
laser dance from _Ocean's Twelve_, and _that_ kind of challenge is,
psychologically speaking, extremely energizing for them. Don't think they
didn't notice how things work in the "real" world! (When these two see each
other face to face--so to speak--there are harsh outcomes)

Anyway--sorry to hear about your experience & thank you for sharing so that
others can be more educated about their choice of institution.

~~~
infogulch
The problem with plagiarism isn't best characterized as some sort of power
struggle between teachers and students via bullshit assignments.

The purpose of learning to write is to make yourself a formidable
communicator. If you can independently analyze a new topic to learn something
new and apply the results of those learnings towards a particular goal, you
can be amazingly effective in everything you aim for. But if you plagiarize
every assignment you rob yourself of your own training of this critically
important competency.

Plagiarizing some work doesn't really hurt the work, it hurts _you_.

~~~
khawkins
This is under the assumption that you see college is a program of self-
betterment and not busy work for receiving a degree that says you can have a
middle-class job. It feels like even the universities themselves see it as the
latter these days.

~~~
knowuh
The cynical anti-intellectualism in this thread is bracing.

All part of the zeitgeist I guess.

News is fake. Science is fake. Schools are barriers. Everything is subjective,
objective reality is nonexistent.

How do we have productive disagreements going forward?

~~~
mikecoles
Anti-college is not anti-intellectualism. Quite the opposite. Higher education
is no longer about education; it's about profit. Pieces of paper are pointless
for anything other than wallpaper. Free-range education through meeting and
collaborating with others is more beneficial to expanding your knowledge than
handing over money to some college. Save those tens of thousands of dollars
and years of your life. Spend that time and money being an apprentice,
creating your own curriculum, or taking specific training.

~~~
BossingAround
> Anti-college is not anti-intellectualism. Quite the opposite. Higher
> education is no longer about education; it's about profit.

In the US, maybe. Do people take ridiculous loans for their degree outside of
US? Some loans, sure, but loans that amount to 5-10x their future yearly
income? I don't know...

~~~
Junk_Collector
While there are some truly staggering examples of US college loan debt, the
average loan debt at the end of a 4 year degree in the US is $26k or about the
price of a new mid range car. For the majority of people, their total college
loan debt is below a single year of their first year annual income out of
college and certainly not 5-10x.

[1][http://www.collegescholarships.org/loans/average-
debt.htm](http://www.collegescholarships.org/loans/average-debt.htm)

------
pugio
I took a semester of courses from UofP. It had a wonderful diversity of ages,
genders, and nationalities. Interacting with those people through peer
assignments was interesting, and I applaud what they're trying to do.

Ultimately, however, I found the entire thing way too tedious - full of the
classic "make-work" and silly hoops. The level of pedagogy was very basic.

I dream of (and am actively working towards) a day where the computer's
potential as a new educational medium is fully realized, rather than the
current parade of attempts at transplanting a brick and mortar classroom into
a remote asynchronous delivery system.

~~~
myself248
A young lady's illustrated primer? ;)

~~~
pugio
Sure, but as of today 2020, it would probably be GPT-2 (or -3) filling in for
the voice actors, which would create students extremely well educated in
knowledge which is 60% real. Maybe that's not so different...

------
aspenmayer
The first question I always ask of these weird online universities is, are
they regionally accredited? National accreditation is not really a high bar
and isn’t considered competitive; all legitimate institutions of higher
learning should qualify for and receive regional accreditation from an
appropriate authority before considering such study in one’s best interest.

This online learning site is eligible for regional accreditation as of 2020,
but they really play up the eligibility in a way that seems suspect. They
aren’t clear if they have even applied, but they have 5 years to apply until
they have to have a redetermination of eligibility.

Not saying this is a scam, but it feels like a scam.

This site was very hard to find, for what it’s worth.

[https://www.uopeople.edu/student-
experience/quality/accredit...](https://www.uopeople.edu/student-
experience/quality/accreditation/)

~~~
non-entity
> Not saying this is a scam, but it feels like a scam.

Not directly related to your specific concern, but every attempt to make a
open / democratized degree has felt like that to me, unfortunately.

Example: There was an online degree program I saw that awarded a real,
regionally accredited degree from a state university. The degree and course
work were exactly the same, but the online program was basically open. No
admission requirements except to pay for and pass some pre-requisites that
would then grant you access to the rest of the degree. The equivalent brick
and motar program went through the typical admissions process.

My first thought: "this sounds very close to for-profit school".

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I've attended several schools online at both the undergrad and graduate level
including a for-profit school. I don't find much different between them
because they've all followed an asynchronous approach.

However, UoPeople is different in that it's much, much less instructor led.
They use a "peer learning" pedagogical approach. It's something I quite
dislike about the school. I consider it to be poorly implemented and leads to
problems like "revenge grading." However, I tolerate it because it allows me
to study in a structured environment for less than I'd pay at my local
community college.

It's not something I would recommend for weak learners and/or for many who
need a regionally accredited degree.

~~~
misterhtmlcss
I'm there not because I need it either. I graduated from a software bootcamp
and I've already been working for 2 yeast, so I'm good. However I found out
UoPeople and researched them a bit e.g. called a local college 's HR
department to find out if they'd recognize someone with a degree from there to
teach and they said yes. My next thought was to review the Visa process for a
couple countries; this is my primary interest and motivation. None of them
specified where the Degree came from only that it was a sanctioned/Accredited
institution.

So I don't really care about the details. I learn more, great, but otherwise
I'm happy because I just want to be able to apply to get into Europe or Asia
as a software developer in the future and not worry about whether I have
enough points, etc to pass the rigor.

All of that being said, the first course was a gong show with lots of academic
violations, but like all things in life it's what you put into it and I plan
on graduating with Honors, so even if it's a weak degree I'll still be able to
respect my work and effort.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I assume by "first course" you mean UNIV 1001.

For those unaware, that's the "study skills, introduction to college, college
success" course.

Yeah, that was pretty awful. I don't mind the material. It was nothing new to
me, but the quality of discourse, grades, assessments, and so on--ugh.

With each step through the CS prerequisites, things have improved. So it seems
the less prepared students either washout or get stuck doing general education
courses. (Thankfully, I've got all that covered in transfer.)

------
zerof1l
I've graduated from this university with a bachelor's in Computer Science last
year. Overall I had a good experience. I found the curriculum to be on a
weaker side. I was interested in various things about computers when I was
young, so it felt like I knew half of the material. While studying, I was
working at the company part-time. At the normal study pace, you should be
ready to put up to 30 hours per week when taking 2 courses. In reality, it
took me half of that time. Usually 10 hours per week. Some people with whom
I've studied had a full-time job. I guess its a tradeoff. You have a less
rigorous curriculum but you then have more time to pursue other interests.
Closer to the end of the studies I quickly found a full-time job in a good
company locally.

The tuition-free part is more of a marketing. At the end of the day, it cost
me $4,060 for the whole degree which is quite reasonable.

Speaking of employment and red flags, from LinkedIn I know that those who had
studied at UoPeople work for many big companies including FAANG. No problem
here.

~~~
BeetleB
> At the normal study pace, you should be ready to put up to 30 hours per week
> when taking 2 courses. In reality, it took me half of that time. Usually 10
> hours per week.

30 hours per week for just 2 courses? Are these courses covering more than a
typical university?

In my undergrad, I took a minimum of 5 courses per semester (16-20 credits).
Scaling from your expectations, that would be 60-80 hours per week? I doubt I
went over 40/week, including lectures (admittedly, it wasn't a demanding
university).

Just giving you my 2 cents so you don't assume that the time you spent per
course is all that different from a traditional university.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
The school uses terms (5 per year) rather than semesters, so each course is 8
weeks (plus 4 days for finals) rather than the usual 15 weeks plus finals
week.

------
Zircom
So this seems like a good time to ask, does anyone have experience with
University of London's online degree and how US employers feel about it? I've
been eyeing it for a couple years now and was wondering if anyone either has
experience directly with this program, or at least can speak more to how US
employer's feel about degrees from overseas.

[https://london.ac.uk/sites/default/files/prospectuses/comput...](https://london.ac.uk/sites/default/files/prospectuses/computer-
science-prospectus-2019-20.pdf)

[https://www.coursera.org/degrees/bachelor-of-science-
compute...](https://www.coursera.org/degrees/bachelor-of-science-computer-
science-london)

~~~
querez
This may be slightly off-topic, but if you're looking at online/distance-
learning offers from the UK, the OpenUniversity (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_University)
) is very well known and well respected, and has decades of experience in
doing this.

~~~
jimnotgym
I will second the OU, both me and my wife got access to higher education
through the OU and successfully transferred credit elsewhere. It was still
cassette tapes and books back then, but those materials were excellent. The
difference I see now is that the funding is not as good from the government
for UK learners. I didn't pay a penny for my courses.

------
cy_hauser
In looking at the CS curricilum this looks more like an extended bootcamp.
Most regular university courses are not there, the credits/classes won't
transfer to full universities, and you're left with a "degree" that pales in
comparison to a "regular" degree. Plus you've spent about $5,000 to get their
paper. I guess "accredited degree" just doesn't mean the same thing to as what
I was thinking.

~~~
traverseda
But is it enough to get me a visa to work in the US? I'm already a self-taught
programmer, 5k is cheap to have the option of working in the US.

~~~
cy_hauser
I would speculate no. It's not a well recognized degree and has little history
or experience to back it up.

~~~
traverseda
Presume that my accomplishments stand on my own, and the only thing getting in
my way is that I don't qualify for a VISA under NAFTA. What I'd need would be
a

> Baccalaureate or Licenciatura degree; or Post-Secondary Diploma or Post
> Secondary Certificate and three years' experience.

Now you and I know this is pretty much just a sheet of paper, but what's the
cheapest/easiest way for someone who already has professional accomplishments
to get that sheet of paper?

~~~
non-entity
> but what's the cheapest/easiest way for someone who already has professional
> accomplishments to get that sheet of paper?

WGU might be that. it can be incredibly cheap (compared to your average
bachelors degree) if completed quickly and I believe it's regionally
accredited, so I imagine it qualifies you.

Now what a hiring manager will think of it is debatable.

~~~
alfonsodev
I'm reading in admission requeriments "Students must demonstrate math
readiness through successful and verifiable completion of a pre-calculus,
calculus, or higher-than-calculus math course from an accredited post-
secondary academic institution or WGU-approved third-party provider." Do you
know where to make those coures online ?

~~~
Hitton
Possibly
[https://www.edx.org/course/precalculus](https://www.edx.org/course/precalculus)
\- it's supposed to be "credit-eligible".

You would probably need to check to make sure it counts.

------
BearsAreCool
After seeing a lot of comments here discussing accreditation, I figured it may
be beneficial to many readers to know about low cost, more transferrable,
options for college credits. I have to stress though, there are lots of a-hole
universities so try to find one that is ok with transferring large numbers of
credits. You can't get an entire degree from this, but you can get most of the
fluff class requirements you don't actually need for your major done.

Ordered based on cost. First 3 are online.

saylor.org - You only pay the fee for online proctoring. Has a list of roughly
20 total lower level courses that are ACE accredited. Self paced.

aleks.com - Like 20 bucks a month and they have some classes at the level of
college algebra and precalc ACE accredited.

straighterline.com - Self paced, overall better course quality than saylor.
Has professor graded writing assignments sometimes. ACE accredited courses.
Normally $60 a class with a $99 a month membership fee. To keep costs down
sign up and do as many courses as possible in a month.

The GED - You can get up to 10 college credits by doing well on the GED. Not
online sadly, requires a testing center. If you have a non-traditional
american high school background you probably need one of these to get into a
university anyway.

CLEP exams - Are very cost efficient at $90 each and allow you to "test out"
of many lower and higher level classes. Not online, requires. testing center.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I'll append a few more.

Sophia Learning is currently offering their courses for free through July.
They are ACE "accredited" (recommend is actually the proper term, I believe).
I think they're normally ~$300-350.

There are several of us students doing courses there to transfer in.

Study.com offers many courses in CS and other areas which are ACE recommended.
They charge $199 a month and an exam fee. If I recall correctly, you get so
many exams in the monthly fee.

AP exams are another option.

DSST offers credit by exams.

And Excelsior College offers credit by exam as well, but I'm not sure of the
costs.

------
phaus
There are different types of accreditation for schools. Generally speaking, if
you are in the US and want minimal risk in terms of transferability, you want
to attend a school that has been accredited by one of several regional
authorities. National accreditation is different and for purposes of credit
transferability in the US, it is considered inferior to regional
accreditation.

The University of the People applied for regional accreditation in 2020. They
are not regionally accredited yet. The process can take years.

Note: Good schools can lack accreditation and bad schools can get the most
prestigious accreditations.

Another note: There are schools that set up accrediting organizations to,
surprise, accredit their own schools.

Edit: I think this is the list of legitimate regional accrediting
organizations:

[https://www.chea.org/regional-accrediting-
organizations](https://www.chea.org/regional-accrediting-organizations)

------
MattGaiser
They branded this wrong.

University of the People stands out front and centre as different and sketchy
as the name makes you think of protestors in a park waving the hammer and
sickle and handing out diplomas for life experience.

~~~
thatha7777
That’s a pretty interesting interpretation of “we the people” filled with
political undercurrents.

I think your underlying assumption is that only an “exclusive” university can
provide a good education, and not something en masse. I think UoP is
explicitly trying to challenge that assumption.

Btw, I have a hunch that if we valued “life experience degrees” more than “law
degree at Harvard” the US Congress would be a better legislative body

------
factchecker01
Is UoPeople completely free? Are there any costs?

While we have removed most of the costs associated with attending a
university, we do still have some fees to help us keep UoPeople running, and
take care of all the admin and processing work we have to do for all of our
students.

To cover these fees we ask for:

A one time non-refundable application fee of $60 and, For undergraduates: an
assessment fee of $100 per course, or For graduates: an assessment fee of $200
per course Don’t worry, if you need to time to save the money and you want to
start right now you can, as the fees don’t need to be paid until the end of
each course. The assessment fees do not need to be paid until the end of each
course which is very convenient for students who have to budget and save up.
You can also apply for one of our numerous grants and scholarships to help you
cover all the fees.

Please note the application fee does not include any additional fees that may
be required for third-party evaluation.

After all courses we estimate the total fees for the:

Associate Degree are $2,060 Bachelor’s Degree are$4,060 MBA is $2,460 M.Ed. is
$2,660 What are the costs for Transfer credits? If you have credits approved
to transfer toward your degree, the cost per transfer course will be $17. This
is instead of paying the assessment fee per course of $100 for undergraduates
and $200 for graduates. Transferring credits may significantly reduce the
total cost of your degree.

What Grants & Scholarships are available? UoPeople works with top corporations
and organizations to provide grants and scholarships to students needing
financial support when paying the required application fees. Students can
apply each term for the scholarship for which they are most qualified, and
once awarded it can last for a full year of study. It is UoPeople’s aim that
financial need will not restrict students from studying.

How can I pay the application fees? Payments can be made through Western
Union, Western Union Global Pay, Paypal, Cashier’s Checks and Payment via
MoneyGram. PayPal payments can be with your personal PayPal account or by
using major credit card or debit card – VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American
Express. For more information on how payments can be made, click here.

~~~
zxcvbn4038
Accredited or not, “university of the people” sounds just like “hard knocks
university”, “life college”, etc. Works for the Saul Goodman’s of the world,
maybe.

------
syats
"tuition-free" is a misrepresentation of USD 4K for an undergrad degree. That
might seem cheap for US (does it? really? compared to community college for
example?), but it's crazy expensive for most "people" out there.

~~~
ineedasername
Yes, it's still cheap compared to a community college, which generally average
an yearly tuition of around $4,000 to $5,000 per yeah, and that only for the
first two years, after which you have to progress to a 4-year school to finish
your degree at more than twice that price.

------
DudeInBasement
I can't wait for a fully online without human University. I'd like speed
running to be a thing

~~~
cstejerean
You can kinda do that already. In my first semester at WGU I went through
about 20 classes. It’s competency based and you can complete classes as soon
as you master the material.

~~~
tomato2juice
> In my first semester at WGU I went through about 20 classes.

Woah, that sounds insane at first, but I'm assuming some of these might be
like history 101? Could you elaborate on which program and which classes this
was?

~~~
AlexClay
I'm currently enrolled in WGU in CS, I started 11 days ago and I finished 8
courses out of 34. They were (5) programming (2) Math (1) general

Most exams have a cutoff of 66.6%. Above that is a pass and below that is a
fail. The university doesn't assign a GPA grade therefore you graduate with an
automatic GPA of 3.0 regardless of how well you score. Since there's no
intensive for a higher score and I already know the material from working in
the industry (SQL, HTML, Java), I'm speed running the curriculum for the
Bachelor's degree.

------
paulmooreparks
This is nitpicky, I'll admit, but I consider it a canary in the coalmine.

On the MBA admission requirements page
([https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/ba/degrees/master-of-
busin...](https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/ba/degrees/master-of-business-
administration/admission-requirements/)):

"As an accredited University, UoPeople has a number of requirements for all
potential applicants, to help maintain a strong, intellectual student body.
[...] In addition, applicants need to have:

" * Be able to demonstrate undergraduate degree completion

" * Have English proficiency

" * A minimum of two years work experience

" * One reference (from an employer/lecturer etc.)"

The phrasing of the first two bullet points doesn't agree with the preceding
sentence. That's a poor example of English proficiency.

If they don't proofread and correct their own admissions page, I'm frankly not
too optimistic about the rest of the university.

------
dangus
It’s not regional accreditation, so it’s not real accreditation.

For example, the MBA program doesn’t have AACSB accreditation.

I don’t want to just be negative here and certainly for the price of free it’s
a good resource to receive some kind of education, and ultimately a lot of
people shopping for degree programs forget that a big reason to do them is to
actually learn things. In that way this is a great resource!

But without that regional accreditation, I find the big bold claim of
“accredited” to be just about as misleading as the way that for-profit schools
throw around the term.

Of course, a lot of employers ignore the name of the college and don’t bother
with researching its accreditation. I’m sure a lot of people want to just get
through HR filters if you can say “bachelors degree” instead of “high school
diploma.” Or maybe you need a masters degree to become a manager as a matter
of company policy, and the company isn’t picky about the degree.

I look at the MBA courses and it looks like the program consists first
foundational courses that make up less than half or so of the curriculum of an
AACSB accredited MBA. The computer science program does look a little more
comprehensive.

There are a ton of programs out there online with reasonable costs and more
legitimate credentials. Since I was recently looking at MBA programs, I can
tell you that public schools like the University of North Dakota, Ball State,
Mississippi State, and many others are highly ranked along with a low cost per
credit hour. You can jump on the US News online MBA ranking site and filter by
credit hour cost.

The most expensive thing is your time, and unlike money you can’t get it back,
so if it were my own education I would consider cost but also consider whether
I come out of the program having wasted time with any of the concerns I stated
above. Look at the curriculum and make sure it offers electives that might
help you in your desired or current career (for example, a good AACSB business
school will have courses on specific industries like Healthcare or IT
Operations).

------
fortran77
Regional vs. National Accreditation – There’s a Huge Difference
[https://www.edsmart.org/regional-vs-national-
accreditation/](https://www.edsmart.org/regional-vs-national-accreditation/)

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Yep. And this is absolutely a concern those considering the school should take
seriously!

That said, the school started the process for WASC accreditation. They
announced it about a month or two ago. Thus, those who start now and take 4
years to do a bachelor's may end up with a regionally accredited degree
instead of national.

------
lcall
For what it may be worth: two accredited online universities that have
interestingly sustainable models and, I gather, good quality:

BYU Pathway Worldwide and associated programs. It requires a Church
affiliation but not necessarily membership (I think). I think tuition is much
lower especially if you do the year of English etc first, bachelors programs
(like IT, business, others) are available, programs excellent, and is also
suitable for those who need to first become qualified for entering a
university (edit: i.e., learning English which is used in curriculum, and
other basic skills), then provides that university. More info is in Wikipedia
and I have gathered a bit of info including linking to a news article that
explains it well I think, here:
[http://lukecall.net/e-9223372036854578440.html](http://lukecall.net/e-9223372036854578440.html)
.

And: [https://www.wgu.edu/](https://www.wgu.edu/) (also mentioned in
wikipedia): state aid available from multiple states it seems (per wkp).
Others have commented about it in this discussion, and praised it in other HN
discussions, IIRC.

------
dbdb
Sometimes I read some heated comments / discussions on online degree programs.
Is it good? Is it better or worse than traditional education? The answer is
very simple: it depends on the student! I am a student at UoPeople. I’m
already in my early 40s and I earned my bachelor degree in business roughly 20
years ago. I’ve built a solid and international professional career and I am a
new father. I really wanted to pursue a new degree in computer science and I
am so glad that I found UoPeople. It suited me perfectly. I have to say,
though, that online education is not for everyone. It requires a few qualities
that not everyone has (or wants to develop): discipline and self-motivation.
UoPeople is excellent in my opinion, and from my perspective. It is an
accredited American university that has academic partnerships with some of the
most prestigious universities on the planet. It is tuition free. It allows
students to have a flexible schedule. It sounded just like music to my ears.
If you are a curious self-motivated person that is willing to accept the level
of discipline that such commitment requires, I have to say: you will have a
rewarding experience.

------
rdiddly
Great, they made it tuition-free, accredited, and online; now take it all the
way and get rid of the idiotic hoop-jumping of the admissions process!

Edit: I know nothing about their admissions process, only that they _have
one_. Somebody's unimaginative I see. "Admissions" should be filling out a
form including contact info, bank info and so forth, and then verifying that
it's all true. What could they (or you downvoters) possibly have vested in
restricting admissions in any way beyond that?

To conserve scarce resources? No, resources are almost limitless, because it's
online, and lecturing and presumably grading are partially or fully automated,
and there's no campus with spatial restrictions.

To make sure everyone pays their way? No, everybody does pay their way, and
it's a non-profit.

To maintain an air of exclusivity? No, it's the University _of the People_.

To make sure the on-campus community is vibrant, diverse, and full of people
with interesting extra-curricular interests and leadership skills? No, because
again, there is no campus and no on-campus community.

To make sure not too large a percentage of enrolled students flunk out or quit
trying? No, because _who cares_? Only elite colleges that care about an air of
exclusivity, and they care in the _other_ direction, i.e. they _want_ you to
fail out so they appear rigorous and demanding.

So yeah. ????

~~~
zerof1l
This university does not have a quota. They take in all students who apply as
long as they meet minimum criteria.

There are reasons as to why there should be admissions. For starters, they
require a high school degree. It's obvious that you should be well familiar
with all of the school material before university. All studies and
communications at the university are in English only. They accept people from
the whole world so they need to ensure that you have adequate English skills.
In the case of CS studies, they also check if a student has some basic math
skills and any previous experience in the field or recommendation.

But even here university is trying to help students who don't pass minimum
math and English requirements by offering them to take introductory English
and math course. If they pass it, they can go on and pursue the degree.

There are good reasons as to why it is necessary. If you don't have basic
English, you can't communicate with your peers. As a part of the study, you
have to read and write a lot. You also need to understand your peer work and
grade it. Finally, it is easier for the rest of us to study.

Before they were more lenient in requirements and it was causing problems.
They had a very high drop rate because people who enrolled had no adequate
English skills for example. It also made it difficult for others to study.

------
Illesam
Hello. I have just completed my first term with UoPeople. For me, it's been a
blessing to be able to pursue a higher education from home and on my own
schedule, without the financial commitment that other institutes have.

My purpose for getting a degree is to A.) Have a degree, and B.) Have the
competitive advantage over others in my field. Many employers these days want
2 things from employees: a degree and experience. I've already gone off into
the world, worked for a few years, and started a family. Now it's time I
complete my resume by getting a higher education.

Specifically with UoPeople, the educational method here is much different than
what I've experienced before. Peer assessment has it's ups and downs. The fact
that we are headed by peers (on written assignments) I think is an effective
when done right. I'm an English teacher and I've started implementing it with
my intermediate students.

Only time will tell how the rest of my path goes. For now, it's a good
solution to my situation and I plan on taking advantage of it.

------
dvduval
I like the premise and I believe education should be a basic right. Someone
should be able to pursue knowledge to the highest level and receive
recognition for having done that. Now so often large corporations will not
hire someone unless they went to a very expensive school, or at least their
chances are much lower. So I like the overall idea here and I hope it will
grow in strength

------
TheRelic74
Plagiarism is damning in many aspects of life and a critical part in learning
the pros and cons of modern society. However without communication we are
going nowhere fast. Simply put "Get right in what you know,say,and do in life
or be left behind in the idiocy of the ones that are laden in ignorance" the
don't give a shit group of people who do nothing but wait for the world to be
handed to them on a silver platter. If you don't put your hands on it, trust
and believe you will not gain the skills of what you are seeking to further
yourself in life. Knowledge is power... Further more if you don't have failure
in your life you are not going to learn anything either. Good intentions,
everyone has them in order to be able to succeed in life, but some of the
worst events in humanity were conducted with the best of intentions. Education
and communication is fully important and key to get what you want in life.
Without them were just dust in the wind.

------
Chan2423
Uopeople has in many ways made my life easier, physically i am glad to say
that Uopeople has been my final alternative when nothing else felt available
enough for me. Im financially relieved knowing that my sholarship will carry
me through my educational journey at Uopeople. When i first heard that
Tuition-free doesnt mean what i probably thought it meant. It did stress me
out abit ,or for little longer as my admission process was pending. I wanted
to opt out because even the small amount of registration fee was alot for me.
But it became the least of my worries when i attempted to apply for their
suggested sholarship,not the first try but the second try i was made known
that i can actually rely on Uopeople with access to a scholarship, i can
complete what i started. Thus far, ive had a ball of a first semester and i
really enjoyed it. The future definitely dont look impossible for me with
Uopeople by my side. Thank you.

------
AlvesCla
University of the People is changing the way we face our educational system.
Firstly by showing that education is freedom and should not be the privilege
of a few. Secondly, by showing that the traditional educational model is
outdated and not enough to keep up with the changes of modern world. It is
accredited and I saw some people saying the level is very basic. Well, it
might seem like that, but it really gives one the basics they need for a given
degree. In today´s world it is impossible to expect to learn everything in the
class. It is more important to know how to filter and deal with the
astonishing amount of information we can get in a safe, critic and ethical
way.

------
sundayadabahi
Hello guys studying at UoPeople has really helped me a lot especially
academically. When i first heard about this great online learning plartform
from a friend i was not really serious about it because i taught it was not
possible for there to exist a tuition free university but my friend then i
should just give it a try since there was nothing to loose by trying and that
was how i registered at UoPeople .I just finished my 2nd term at UoPeople and
trust me its be absolutely amazing from the instructors to the students from
different parts of the world to the beautiful and easy to move around learning
environment . I do not regrit ever considering registering on this learning
plartform at all and i can recommend this plartform to anyone at anytime.
thanks a lot UoPeople am really grateful.

------
S111663
My experience at UoPeople has been great both in education and culture. Truth
be told, I want to say that in my case, with my associate in computer science
from UoPeople, back in my country it is considered to be of higher standard.
And this is not because the standard of universities in my country is low but
I think that it is because my performance and know-how in my present company
has improved tremendously, and in all the other companies I applied for a
job,from my performance in the evaluation, they consider me to be over
qualified for them to pay me and they make reference to the school I studied
which is UoPeople. And that is how I got to share with them and many others
about UoPeople. that is my little experience for now. Thanks....

------
abdeslamazzoun
University of the people is an online university I joined it about a year ago
and found a great level of professors in it and in the way of presenting the
courses and weekly assignments as well. I got to know a lot of friends also
from all countries of the world and forge a friendship with them I also
studied with professors at a very high level and helped me to improve my level
in programming and computer science in general because I study this
specialization in it. Cultural diversity is a lot found in the University of
the people of the best things in it Really, it is a very special experience
and worth sharing.

------
WoodenChair
How are the faculty paid? Are there faculty? And if not, why can’t Khan
Academy go for accreditation?

~~~
clairity
yes, they get an "honorarium" according to the signup page, which means
peanuts most likely (probably a portion of that ~$200 proctoring fee, or
whatever they call it).

has anyone here applied to be an instructor?

------
blablabla123
There is always a negative sentiment towards novel approaches towards
University, especially that the degree might not be as useful. At the same
time there is the constant complaint that Universities tend teach things that
are supposed to be too theoretical for the workplace. (And for practice
focussed courses sometimes the curriculum is not as up-to-date as what is done
in the workplace.) But since most people actually want to take a job outside
of University after studying, this model seems ideal to me. It would literally
give more space to traditional Universities, probably make admissions faster,
studying cheaper and allow the different models to focus on what they can do
best.

------
foligeorge
UoPeople has given me an opportunity that the universities here in my country
would never have given me. I really appreciate it in the sense that students
are given the opportunity to assess their peers. I have really picked a lot of
ideas from assessing my peers most of the time. I can also confidently say
that I have gotten the opportunity to meet new friends from different
countries, which has given me the idea of how they also relate to issues or
how they approach things in general.

~~~
dryaks
Hello how did u send the link

------
delaynomore
Let's be honest about schools like UofP and WGU. They exist to provide a cheap
and easy way for experienced professionals to get that piece of paper to
bypass a HR checkbox, nothing more. If you are serious about learning, look
elsewhere.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I somewhat agree. I don't think UoPeople and WGU were individually founded for
this purpose. But, I think they were made necessary by cultural forces which
necessitate "that piece of paper to bypass an HR checkbox."

> If you are serious about learning, look elsewhere.

This is unfair though. You can still acquire a decent education through the
school. Depending on your goals, it might be better to look elsewhere.

------
foligeorge
I can confidently say that, UoPeople has really helped me a lot in so many
ways. Before, I did not understand what academic integrity was but with the
help of the online education strategy that I took, has given me an indept
understanding of why you need to provide a source. Time management was a
problem for me because I did not have the knowledge of how to manage my time
effectively. I have also come to understand different cultures from different
countries. I have also made some friends through this school. To me, this
school is a life changer.

------
myriamlohier
I am a proud MBA student of UOP. As I am currently living in the US,
transferability of courses credits doesn't apply to me. I am enjoying the
Tuition free and have already made arrangement with a Public University in
Florida for a PhD in Public Administration.

One of my short-term goals is to help the community where I am living now and
my home country with this degree.

Uopeople might not be accepted yet in other regions but I heard that they are
working on it. When you want to help, you can get the most out of "a little".
Uopeple degree helps you make that happen!

------
kahlanf
My name is Kahlan, I am an ambassador and student for the university of the
people. I have had nothing but a positive experience there as well as have
been fortunate enough to receive a scholarship. The quality of education is
fantastic, the professors and peers are so respectful and friendly, and I
never thought I would even be able to attend a college due to lack of flexible
time as well as finances. I feel so lucky to be apart of and to have found
this wonderful university.

------
hnkramd
Hello to HN in general and those who know more about the University of the
People. I have a question... I've been a Web Developer for 7+ years. I'm in my
mid-30's. I never graduated college, and definitely went for the wrong
reasons. I'm fully employed, but I've always wanted to land an engineering
degree (software engineering most likely), and I'm wondering if this
University would be a good option. I know little about it, but it seems like
some of you know much more. Can anyone comment on if this would be a good fit
for me for a college run in my mid-30's?

~~~
uopeoplestudent
It really depends on your goals. If you're simply wanting to complete a degree
or learn more about the field (like myself) then it's a great opportunity. If
you're looking to pursue pure CS research, it might be better to go elsewhere.

There are plenty of students around your age range. There are plenty who
attend school full-time (2 courses per 8-week term) while also working full-
time. Some are also raising families in the process. So, definitely feasible.

If you have more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

------
faithful007
I'm a student from Nigeria, and I'd say UoPeople educational system is
something I really enjoy. The peer-to-peer system is quite nice, and is
primarily meant for learning and not grading as the instructor goes through
the grades and re-awards unfair grades. The communication and the instructor-
student relationship for me, is commendable. They also embrace self learning
which is even more effective when done properly. Even if there are lapses,
they'll get better with time.

------
JD-001
Hi, I recall my first day at UoPeople, was like a small paradise. The module
was exceptional, not until I met realism in form Plagiarism and bias peers it
was a knock down. Some Professors are a bit unkind without understanding the
background and nature of some student. It's treating all animals the same way
without considering their innocence, size, situation and intention.

Howbeit, I 'have enjoyed the company and experience with good and positive
professors and students. Thank you for raising the bars of education and
professionalism

------
AlvesCla
University of the People is changing the way we face our educational system.
Firstly, it is showing that education is freedom and hence it should not be
the privilege of a few, but rather something anyone can have access to.
Secondly, it is showing that the traditional educational system is outdated to
keep up with nowadays worlds demands and we need to come up with something
new!

------
Babylen2
My experience at UoPeople has been great. The courses are up to date and
relevant in today's world. I remembered when my friend who is also studying
Business Administration at a local university in my country looked at my
school notes, she was surprised at how she did not know most of the things I
had learned. This showed me that UoPeople offers quality education while there
are still universities offering students outdated information.

------
HajarLamdichi
I just started studying at the University of the People. but I gained a little
bit of experience. It gives the opportunity to get to know people from around
the world, we are still in the lockdown, all studies stopped but luckily I
still can study and do my homework and do my exam in my house totally safe,
plus my instructor is so kind and so helpful and full of information I would
never regret studying at the University of the people.

------
doha1_Edrees
Because of my special circumstances and the war in my country, I could not
enroll in any university, when I heard about our university I felt joy and
hope, and finally, I can study, now the study is. My opportunity and my dream
of the People's University are among the best options that I have chosen in my
life. It gave me hope and strength, it is distinguished With a very organized
and beautiful learning system, I advise everyone to register! It is your best
choice.

------
S178226
I am really happy to be a student of UoPeople which is one of the world highly
rated tuision free online University. The school has helped me to overcome my
problem of time management and communication at work place has improved.
However, I am glad that it has given me an opportunity of having my degree
certificate in the future. Being a student at UoPeople requires internal
motivation and patience because the workload is much.

~~~
S178226
I almost lost interest with the school but I was motivated by my supervisor
through her constant messages and quick response that made the university
processes easier for me.

------
yters
A university's selling point to an employer is their degree ensures a student
knows the material and can reason about it. That is the practical point of
academic ethics. If a student cheats, sure they may get a decent job, although
their lack of competence will eventually catch up with them. However, what
they've done will impact the worth of everyone with a degree. So, getting a
degree by cheating is essentially stealing from those who got the degree
ethically.

------
elil17
Reading the comments in this thread, it seems like there is a real need for a
version of this that focuses on being more rigorous and achieving regional
accreditation.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I wish the school were more rigorous, but they are working towards regional
accreditation. It takes time, unfortunately (or fortunately?).

~~~
elil17
I want to clarify, I’m not at all saying that UoP isn’t rigorous enough for
what it is. While it may look like a cake walk to some HN readers, I’d guess
that the curriculum poses a significant challenge and a real opportunity to
learn for most people.

If this is the low cost, online version of a average public university, I
think there should also be a low cost, online version of a “top-tier” school.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
No worries. I didn't take it negatively.

I would prefer a more rigorous program, but for what I pay I accept it for
what it is.

And you're right that many of the students struggle with even the basic
courses, and there's very little in the way of support for them. Then again,
that tends to be the nature of online education in general.

I don't know of any low cost "top tier" bachelor's programs, but I do know the
University of Texas Austin and Georgia Tech both offer online master's for
~$10k. As I understand the programs, they're supposed to be more for students
who didn't major in CS in their undergrad though.

I actually find some of the coursework in the Tech program interesting like
Computational Photography.

------
uopeoplestudent
Current student in the CS program. Feel free to ask questions.

~~~
kamyarg
As both the OP and you are new accounts, I will ask the first question I can
think of:

is this a marketing move to post it here?

Also, I watched the "Who is behind it" video and it did not answer the
question, who is actually behind this? Is it a non-profit? Is it owned by by
someone? Who founded it when?

~~~
tomato2juice
>is this a marketing move to post it here?

Nope, I had found the university before but ignored it. Then was looking for
cheap math degrees from the recent math books thread today, and came across
this school again. Figured I'd post it, but I have no interest in attending
there, as they don't have any programs I care about

~~~
kamyarg
Thank you for explaining.

------
Tung_Ng
In this kind of time, i believe online study is the way to go. It takes self-
motivation to study on a computer in the comfort of your home with lots of
distraction.

What is there to against a revolution that serves a great purpose of demolish
education shortage in different parts of the world. I personally enjoy the
flexibility the school gives me so i can be partly working or traveling.

------
Michelleb2
I attend this school now and as long as you are smart and can teach yourself
it is a good school. You pay practically nothing and you get what you put into
it. If you want to take the subjects the instructor gives you and master them
all you can, if you just want to learn the minimum to pass the class, that is
your option to do so too. This school really is what you make of it.

------
AlvesCla
University of the People is changing the way we see education. Firtsly, it is
showing that education is freedom and hence it should not be the privilege of
a few. It is also showing that the traditional educational system is outdated
and needs to be rethought and reformulated into something that fits the needs
of the modern world.

------
ineedasername
This school is not a regionally accredited school, and therefore the vast
majority of other schools will not accepted their credit if you decide to
transfer somewhere else or use the degree you earned to try & get into a
graduate degree program.

It is borderline fraudulent for schools like this to operate without being
very clear on the limits of the credits earned and their portability.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I don't know about borderline fraudulent, but I really wish there were better
explanations by the school.

I already knew what I was getting into when I started because I've been in and
around academia for more than 2 decades. However, many of the students don't
understand the intricacies of American higher ed. And they can be hard to
explain to current and prospective students who just want to know if the
degree will help them get a job or obtain some other goal in life.

That said, if I am not mistaken there are rules about to go into place at the
US Department of Education which is supposed to eliminate the distinction
between national and regional accreditation[0]. This should be fun to watch
how it plays out.

[0] [https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/03/17/pros-and-
con...](https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/03/17/pros-and-cons-having-
regional-accreditors-go-national-opinion)

~~~
ineedasername
If they're prohibited from treating credits from non-regionally accredited
schools differently, then I suspect schools will put into place policies that
are not "blanket" policies, but instead policies that dictate individual
evaluation of each student, which will turn out to accomplish the same thing.
Which really wouldn't be great, but also would filter out a lot of people of
questionable academic credentials: regionally accredited schools generally
meet some minimum standards, while non-regionally accredited schools are a
crap shoot: some are just fine, but many are awful degree mills that don't
even grade work beyond assigning an "A" for any submission.

------
dryaks
University of the people is giving opportunities for people who previously
were not able to secure admission into college. I am a medical doctor
currently pursuing a bachelors in community health and i must admit the
institution is up to date and top notch!

------
mazly
This school saved my life in more ways than I can relate. It is like any other
school, where students copy paste and struggle with plagiarism, so if you
think that there is a college without these, you are so wrong. The only issue
here is the accreditation and how limited the transfer places are for now. I
hope they work on this.

------
kahlanf
My experience at UoPeople has been nothing but a positive experience. The
tuition-free aspect is the whole reason I could even go to a college. I am so
grateful for this opportunity and even admire the diversity this higher-
education opportunity brings, I have met the BEST people and honestly the best
professors.

------
Seunemanuel
In all fairness, UoPeople has afforded me the opportunity to get an American
education that is accredited and also transferable to other regular
universities without leaving my home country. The most interesting part is the
numerous scholarships available can be easily accessed regardless of wherever
you might come from.

~~~
smoyer
Why do you need scholarships for a free university?

~~~
uopeoplestudent
The school is not free. It's tuition-free.

------
efeoja
Uopeople is the best that has ever happened to me as a person . At the
institution , I am exposed to quality education and highly qualified
instructors whose tutoring has affected me positively bringing about academic
excellence . The institution's curriculum is up to date .

I have no regret studying at the University.

------
poma88
Great initiative!! I wanted to volunteer, but they only accept if you can
teach in two semesters per year or 15h per week. I am a researcher and I find
it is too much! Once per year and then 5 h per week is the maximum I am able
for a usual paid course in top 200 university, sorry.

------
Nduna
I've had a wonderful experience at the Uopeople. Meeting different people with
diversified cultural views and knowledge. Great and more hands on course
instructors and program adviser. Am pleased with the course content and study
materials.

------
martinsana
I am a student from UoPeople, I recently graduated from the associates degree
in computer science. I am working on a good portfolio to present to employers!
Thank you UoPeople for all your help! =)

------
MattGaiser
An interesting question would be whether governments and teachers agreements
accept this program.

Many of those have rules about how if you have a Masters, you earn X more and
you can just keep earning more the more degrees you get. $4000 lets the
payback period Be quite fast.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
The school is accredited by the DEAC which is recognized by the US DoE. It's
national accreditation which is less prestigious and not always "accepted" by
regional accredited schools.

[https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/institution-
profile/233675](https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/institution-profile/233675)

The Master's in education is recognized by International Baccalaureate (IB)
which is a well regarded program. I'm not sure of the exact relationship as
the program is new. (It just started this year.) However, it likely wouldn't
be accepted by the various state education bodies for teaching licensing.
(This is a guess based on my past experience in education.)

------
martinsana
I am a student at this University. This is what has saved my life in the last
2 years. I have an associate's degree now, a way to gain money and a lot of
knowledge. I thank to this opportunity at UoPeople and I think it is all worth
it.

------
coronadisaster
They sure ask for a lot of information for signing up, which make me think
that it is not free.

~~~
BossingAround
You pay I believe ~60USD signing up fee and then 100USD for each class (or
200USD for each graduate class). It's tuition free, not free.

~~~
yellowapple
Is that $100/$200 not "tuition"? I mean, it's cheap tuition, but it seems like
it's tuition nonetheless.

~~~
BossingAround
Well, the term "tuition" refers to a part of the overall university expense.
For example, for NYU, a quick search reveals a whopping $55,018 in annual
tuition. That's not the total cost, which is higher since you might be paying
for room and board, administration fees, classes/credit-hours, etc.

In general, universities in Europe tend to be free, so I agree with you,
100USD per class is indeed tuition for me. But, it is not the US-centric
"tuition" of the brick-and-mortar schools.

------
M5x7wI3CmbEem10
could’ve renamed “of the People” to something in Latin to make it sound more
legitimate.

University of Populi

Homines University

------
dryaks
Im happy to be a student of uopeople cos I get quality education and for far
less!! Looking forward to my uopeople diploma. To be honest the school is very
smooth and convenient

------
Seunemanuel
The university gave me the opportunity to realize my dream of an American
education without leaving my home country. There are also numerous financial
aid available to all seeking and deserving students.

------
hbarka
Finishing college honorably demonstrates an ability to finish something having
a foundation to be a contributing member to society and in turn the society
gives you a certificate to recognize you for it.

------
barillax
Seeing a lot of negative comments here, especially around accreditation and
pricing. As a co-founder of an accredited online university, son of a retired
state university professor father, and grandson of a retired state university
professor grandmother, I'd like to offer my own perspective.

University of the People is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting
Commission (DEAC), a national accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of
Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). CHEA
recognized accreditors can be browsed here: [https://www.chea.org/chea-
recognized-organizations](https://www.chea.org/chea-recognized-organizations)

DEAC is a US-based, non-profit accreditation agency founded in 1926. Our
university (quantic.edu) was also accredited by DEAC. It was a multi-year
process, and extremely rigorous; we were evaluated across all aspects of our
organization: academic, operational, financial, etc. Many schools that begin
the accreditation process do not successfully complete it. As the name
suggests, DEAC specializes in distance education, so it's a good choice for a
university that offers purely online programs. Some accreditors have
requirements that implicitly or explicitly exclude online universities; for
example, there might be a requirement for a physical library of a certain
size. Regional accreditation also often takes longer, or requires you to have
been in operation for more years. However, when comparing notes with my
retired academic family members, there were similarities in the required
documentation for DEAC to what was needed in the regional accreditation
renewal process.

A prerequisite for accreditation in the US is licensing at the state level and
compliance with all state laws within which the university has a physical
presence. This means that you need to be very careful about where your school
has physical offices and from which states you advertise and enroll students.
Note that licensing is also required for issuing certificates, not just
degrees; this is a common mistake for education startups, especially
bootcamps. Lambda School [1] and Flatiron [2] were both slapped for this.

The differences between regional and national accreditation often boil down to
"regional accreditation means credits are more likely to transfer." However,
one thing that's thrown a huge wrench into this is that in 2019, the US
Department of Education revised its rules to _eliminate_ the distinction
between national and regional accreditors! [3] This rule change will take
effect in July 2020. The impact of this (and related) rule changes on credit
transfer and how universities market their accreditation are open to
speculation.

Regarding the University of People's pricing, it's important to note that they
advertise as "tuition free." Terms like tuition have a very specific meaning
in the world of higher education, and are considered distinct from "fees," for
example. This is why UofP does not market itself as simply being "free," like
we do for our early career MBA program. To use the word "free"
unconditionally, DEAC requires us to prove our early career MBA students can
apply, enroll, study, and graduate having paid no tuition or fees whatsoever.
On the other hand, if you do charge for tuition, like we do for our Executive
MBA, DEAC requires you to disclose all payment details up-front; this is why
almost anywhere on our website where we reference a price, or even
affordability, we also include a link to display a breakdown of tuition,
payment plans, scholarships, discounts, and other potential fees.

The higher education space is very regulated, so innovation can be
challenging. It's important to remember that most innovative organizations
have to (at least initially) make tradeoffs to better serve a subset of the
market over incumbents. Our raison d'etre is active learning, for example; we
eschew passive lectures (no video professor) in favor of a proprietary
interactive learning format that's mobile-first and broken up into small
modules. This has numerous advantages for the learner, but it also means that
our bespoke curriculum structure can't be easily packaged up into transfer
credits. As a graduate school, we decided that was a reasonable tradeoff to
enable innovation in the core learning experience. Likewise, we decided to
pursue a quality-first strategy (see: Tesla master plan), building a deep,
challenging curriculum with a selective admissions process (less than 10%
admitted) to establish the value of the school and alumni network, with the
plan to launch more open programs down the line.

If you've read this far, I hope that you at least take away the fact that
building something new in the higher education space is hard. If some aspect
of a program appears odd at first glance, consider if the diversion from the
norm might also confer an advantage with a specific audience. And when
evaluating educational program options, don't discount the value of a licensed
and accredited provider recognized by the US Department of Education or CHEA.

[1] [https://www.educationdive.com/news/running-without-state-
app...](https://www.educationdive.com/news/running-without-state-approval-
lambda-school-shows-challenge-of-regulating/570906/) [2]
[https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2017/ag-schneiderman-
announc...](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2017/ag-schneiderman-
announces-375000-settlement-flatiron-computer-coding-
school#:~:text=A.G.%20Schneiderman%20Announces%20%24375%2C000%20Settlement%20With%20Flatiron%20Computer%20Coding%20School,Its%20Employment%20And%20Salary%20Claims&text=NEW%20YORK%2D%2DAttorney%20General,settlement%20with%20Flatiron%20School%2C%20Inc).
[3] [https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-
education...](https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-department-education-
issues-final-rule-to-revise-accreditation-and-state)

[EDIT: some sentences tweaked for clarity]

~~~
raybb
So your business model is let everyone who signs up access the courses but
only let the top students get a degree and then make money by selling access
to those students?

How much energy would you say goes into the student part vs the employer part?

------
tanilama
Will employer acknowledge this university? That will be the ultimate test

------
paulcarroty
Here's the movie with similar idea:
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384793/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384793/)
:)

------
nadinelynch2600
my experience so far has been nothing but pleasant, great quality content in
their courses (majors), I'm currently in my first years in my third term in
June, i have learned about python like I haven't gone into the programming in
any depth before, I joined uopeople in a computer science degree (BSc).
plagiarism is a big NO in this wonderful university and so is creating. more
about me, I am Nadine lynch, and I am south African.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Was this thread posted on Yammer or in a WhatsApp group?

------
zino_isawhe
I think plagiarism cannot be completely avoided since there's nothing new
under the sun. Tha challenge becomes how to present an already existing idea
in a new way

------
uopeopleabby
The University of the People is an innovative school where you can meet and
talk to students from all over the world. The faculty is of high caliber as
well.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I wouldn't called the school "innovative." It's fairly unique in higher ed,
but definitely not innovative. The pedagogical approaches it uses have been
around for decades in most cases.

And the faculty can be hit-or-miss. Some are awesome, some of okay. A few are
just awful.

Personally, I had an instructor for Java who had difficulty managing different
JDKs one a single machine. If I, as a student new to Java, can figure it out,
I absolutely expect my instructor to know how to do so. Granted, this
particular instructor was a "standout" in the negative sense. Most have been
okay.

Fortunately, instructors are mostly inconsequential as there's very little
interaction with them.

------
Michelleb2
I go to this school and as long as you're really smart and can teach yourself
the material without an actual class it's great. Low cost and you learn a ton.

------
zino_isawhe
UoPeople has given me a really amazing experience so far, I don't regret
signing up with them and I would absolutely stick with them

------
dryaks
Im happy to be a student of uopeople cos I get quality education and for far
less!! Looking forward to my uopeople diploma.

------
mrwnmonm
What does Health Science mean? medicine?, is there any way to study medicine
deeply on the internet for an outsider? a programmer for example?

------
quickthrower2
So, Correspondence Learning? Like
[http://www.open.ac.uk/](http://www.open.ac.uk/)?

~~~
elric
Seems to be a fair bit cheaper than the Open University. But maybe you get
what you pay for ...

------
kinzabatool12
hello to all, I have found this amazing university where I can learn whenever
I want and whatever I want to study. I never have the liberty to study on my
availability but know I can and I am very happy about that. I would like to
that UOP for being there for me and so many people to provide quality
education.

------
Ali5005
My experiment with university of the people is very well, I think it's good
idea, online learning.

------
Grace_Wendy
My first experience with a tertiary institution and I could not have a better
institution than UoPeople

------
protomyth
Am I reading this correctly that they are nationally accredited but have not
gone through one of the regionals?

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Yes. They announced about a month or two ago that they received permission
from WASC, a regional accrediting agency, to start the accreditation process.

------
Bellomylove
I have nothing to say accept thank you Uopeople for everything you've gave an
oxygen

------
johnkpaul
This seems too good to be true and I’m trying to figure out the catch.

~~~
reidjs
The catch is your degree will be from “University of the People” which will
send red flags to hiring managers who check. Hopefully one day this will be a
normal thing, but it’s questionable whether your degree will signal what you
want it to signal.

~~~
Nginx487
Graduates work in FAANG companies though, probably hiring managers comsider it
trustworthy enough. Btw, what red flags do you mean?

~~~
chrisseaton
> Btw, what red flags do you mean?

It looks like a lesser education. And it further makes it look like there’s
something strange about you that made you pick it.

------
fortran77
I looked at their CS degree. Just one semester of Calculus?

~~~
mehrdadn
Link: [https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/cs/degrees/computer-
scienc...](https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/cs/degrees/computer-science-
bachelor-degree-2/curriculum/)

Their data structures & algorithms course:
[https://my.uopeople.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=45606&chapterid...](https://my.uopeople.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=45606&chapterid=37618)

I'm more worried about the the apparent lack of basic algorithms (Dijkstra?
DP?) than not having more semesters of calculus.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Algorithms is a separate course.

[https://my.uopeople.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=45606&chapterid...](https://my.uopeople.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=45606&chapterid=37619)

Note that this syllabus is somewhat out of date. The second textbook link is a
bad link. I can't find any material on the (unofficial) CS Discord about
updates to the course.

~~~
mehrdadn
Ah, it's not on the curriculum, it's an elective:
[https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/cs/degrees/computer-
scienc...](https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/cs/degrees/computer-science-
bachelor-degree-2/curriculum/)

------
sidcool
There are no advanced or master degree courses

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Not in CS, but the school offers an MBA and an master's in education.

------
terrycody
I guess this is a promising project, bookmarked.

------
sosilkj
Is there a tuition-free CS masters anywhere?

~~~
uopeoplestudent
You might find some in European countries. Though, I think they've cut back on
a lot of their "free" programs last I remember.

However, Georgia Tech and the University of Texas Austin both have online MSCS
degrees that come in around $10k.

------
luhego
Is this available to international students?

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Yes. In fact, I believe most of the students are international students. In my
last course, I had students from Nigeria, Italy, Germany, the US, Vietnam, and
China.

~~~
mkbkn
Tell me how many are from India?

~~~
uopeoplestudent
No idea. I don't recall anyone from my classes who has specifically mentioned
being from India. I did a quick search on the internal social network, and
there's quite a few students who mention being from various parts though. So,
"some" is the best answer I can offer.

------
jki275
Nationally accredited. Not regionally accredited. Hence useless for academic
purposes.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
Not true. There are schools which will consider nationally accredited degrees
for admissions into graduate schools. Even the University of Chicago will
consider them.

However, it's potential utilization is much, much more diminished compared to
a no-name state school.

This might change when (if) they acquire regional accreditation, but they've
only just started the process. Thus, it could take upwards of 5 years.

~~~
jki275
Not really. It's a story that nationally accredited schools like to tell, but
it's not really true.

Regionally accredited schools simply don't take credits from schools that
aren't.

~~~
uopeoplestudent
I know several students who've transferred to WGU (RA, non-profit, online) to
complete their bachelors degrees.

There are also students compiling lists of schools which will consider and/or
accept UoPeople credits/degrees.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/UoPeople/comments/g55smv/list_of_in...](https://www.reddit.com/r/UoPeople/comments/g55smv/list_of_international_universities_accepting/)

The idea that UoPeople is some kind of academic dead-end is simply not
accurate. It's not going to get as far as a degree from a no-name state uni on
its own, but it can definitely be leveraged to further one's goals.

------
scoot
_" tuition-free"_

"tuition-fee free"? I would hope you get at least some tuition!

~~~
uopeoplestudent
The only required fees are an application fee and an exam fee per course.
There are fees to transfer courses in, and many courses require a proctor. You
can opt to have a professional in your community or use the online service
ProctorU for a fee charged by that service.

------
mrfusion
How is this possible?

------
russfink
Are professors paid?

------
BossingAround
I'm taking this Uni in my free time. I am a full-time at a large IT company,
and when I started, I had too much free time. I thought, I don't have a
degree, I learned everything myself, let's see what the rigorous side of CS
is.

Well, UoPeople is both good and bad, as everything in life.

On the bad side, some teachers are not only useless, but actively making your
experience worse. This is mostly cultural, but teachers coming from Africa and
some Asian countries really make you want to stick to the tiniest details of
rules and assignments.

For example, if you have to write a learning journal (and you will), and the
example of an LJ contains entries starting with date such as "DD/MM/YYYY
HH:MM", African and some Asian teachers will ask you to correct it from any
other format. I found this infuriating. What's more, when I had questions,
most often, I got no help from these teachers. Some teachers would be amazing,
most teachers would give me a non-helpful question, some would ignore my
question outright.

I also feel like there's a ton of hoops you have to jump through. An associate
CS degree consists of a number of health/philosophy/econ classes that I have
zero interest in. This is, again, cultural, as UoP is highly US-centric. If
you're coming from other country, you'll realize how many assumptions you had
(and how silly the UoP/US system can be).

On the good side, however, I do feel like I'm learning a lot. If you really
spend time in reading the materials, I have found the exercises in courses
quite useful. I'm 100% sure it's not as rigorous as a brick-and-mortar
university, no. They will let pass students who have learnt nothing as long as
they put in work.

But, if you want, you can surprisingly learn a lot. Even after being a number
of years in IT (engineering and now architecture), I found something new
(especially their Database and other specialized courses are quite good). I
haven't done math since high school (my brick-and-mortar degree was not in CS)
and some of the math courses were really kicking my ass, which is great.

It's also insanely flexible in that it's online. You decide when to do stuff.
You decide when to read. There's only deadlines for every week. Other than
that, it's up to you.

Overall, I think my experience with UoP is quite good, but it takes a very
specific mindset. If you're from a poor non-US and non-EU country, I'd say UoP
is great for you (provided you can pay for it, since it's still not free). If
you're from US or any EU country, UoP degree will have almost zero value in
terms of having a degree, but might provide you with a lot of new knowledge.
If you're in for the knowledge, I'd say it's nice. If you're in for the
degree, I'd say go for Georgia's Tech OMSCS.

Feel free to ask any questions if you'd like. I'll be checking replies to this
post for a day or two.

~~~
znpy
Nice review, how does one takes exams at this university?

~~~
BossingAround
All classes have multiple graded activities. There are weekly assignments,
that are peer graded. There are three graded exams throughout every term that
count to the final grade. There are learning journals that I mentioned, which
are teacher graded and contribute to the final grade. And then, there is one
final exam, that accounts for something like 30% of the whole grade.

Most often, this final test is done online, without any supervision. For some
classes (like math classes), there is an online proctor required (ProctorU,
costs around 15 bucks an exam). You might have your own proctor somehow, I
didn't try that.

Grading is another area that I am ambiguous about. Peer graded exercises are
kind of hit or miss. Sometimes, the peer marks something as incorrect because
they are incorrect. Sometimes, they mark everything as correct because, I
don't know, they want to be nice or something. Sometimes, there are mistakes
in the grading key that peers should use, and that's the most infuriating to
me, because the teachers' attitude towards mistake in grading keys vary
significantly (and they mostly correct your grade but not the grading key, so
future students will hit the same thing).

Overall, the tests for CS courses were, so far, somewhat unimpressive... I've
seen questions like "who created C", or "what is the output of this python
code" type of questions. The tests are mostly multiple-choice. I'd prefer if
the class could elect not to do tests, and do a large project instead. Maybe
for more advanced CS courses, that's how they do it, but so far, I've not seen
anything like that (and I started 2 years ago, though I took some breaks).
It's mostly the exercises and assignments that students are graded on
throughout the course where the bulk of learning happens.

For the math classes, they were much tougher, where even a multiple choice
answer is not making it significantly easier. For math classes, the tests are
no joke. The strange thing was that the math classes teach quite advanced
concepts that require you to calculate, for example, e^x or a sum of squares,
or straight out use R, and then, in the final tests, you're allowed only a
four-function basic calculator. That's amazingly frustrating to me, and I
ended up guessing a lot of the questions (as in, e to the power of 4 would be
probably less than answer A, but more than answer C and D, so B it is).

------
38530706
hi, the first day when i attepted the apply the uopeople is im so afraid
becaurse they many university online which is non accredited in the world,but
when i recognized the uopeople is accredited im try to fill the application
then im locky to get this university.becaurse is higher education in the
world.im totally changing my life becaurse of uopeople. as now im expiriance
too in my feild at uopeople. im happy to get uopeople in my life. and also
thank to my programme advisor,which is farhanaz.

------
38530706
hi everyone. since i attend this achool and i accepted the admision.the first
topic that i registering in the first terms it is psychoogy and online
stratagy i have learn how i discusion in student portal,and also i learning
the method of education how i prepare for study amd how prepare gor the exams.
and meet the sevaral people in others country. my expiriance is writing and
read and how the controll my self.

