
I got my degree through Email (1997) - pedrodelfino
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1997/0616/5912084a.html#fcea8175b544
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hpoe
So I went to Western Governers University it is an all online school that is a
nonprofit founded by a consortium of Governers in the late 90's and it is one
of the best things ever.

The entire school is competency based and self paced so if you can prove you
know the material either after 1 week in a class or after 3 months. Boom
credit given. This was a good send since I was already working in the IT
field.

The other huge advantage it gave was that you pay for a 6 month semester and
can finish as many courses as you want for a flat rate.

And it wasn't just a skills course I was required to do generals and all that
as well.

Really I will never understand doing it the other way with capricious
professors, unending busy work, huge loans, living in a crappy apartment next
to campus. The list goes on and on. If more schools modeled themselves after
WGU the brick and mortar college would be on life support in a generation.

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dangus
The WGU concept is great, but it also only really works for that intended
audience of professionals already in the field, sometimes only getting a
degree to satisfy some arbitrary requirement (e.g. I knew two people who went
to WGU because they worked somewhere that _required_ a masters degree to be
any sort of manager - they were already a shoe-in but needed the piece of
paper).

In effect, WGU was not there to teach them anything new.

All the negatives of four year college that you mentioned (besides the loans)
are all _positives_ for someone just leaving high school.

The on-campus experience of living in a crappy dorm/apartment with peers is a
formative social experience that results in lifelong friendships for many
college students. The whole point is to live away from parents in a
transitional environment. It’s just plain fun to live in a dilapidated house
with 5 friends.

On-campus college is a good measure of priceless juvenile fun combined with a
lot of intermingling with people who aren’t necessarily just like you compared
to more homogeneous high schools and your parents’ own sheltering. I think
this is absolutely valuable to expanding your horizons, which also includes
studying elective subjects not part of your direct major (for me, that was
film history and geology, and I remember those courses more vividly than many
of my required engineering courses).

Self-learning is irrelevant to someone with no professional experience. I
don’t really see how I would have self-learned subjects like differential
equations without in-person office hours and lessons with the ability to raise
your hand and ask a question. Physical in-person labs in science and
electrical engineering were important aspects of my degree, while a liberal
arts student might have had an in-person discussion, performance, or live
presentation.

I also got access to a physical campus library that blew away the local
library in my hometown: seven floors of books in endless subjects, more videos
than the local Blockbuster. Maybe that’s less relevant in 2020 but the library
was also a _destination_ for studying.

I was lucky enough to not end up with significant loans after my four year
school (about $12,000). But I think I’d have taken on up to $50,000, heck,
maybe $75,000 to get that experience, if the alternative would have been
sitting in my bedroom on a computer for four years.

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DavidVoid
I wish the prefix _cyber-_ would become popular again. "Cybercourses" sounds
much more interesting than "online courses"

~~~
numlock86
The prefix is pretty popular, but has a negative feeling with it, as it
usually comes as either "cyber bullying" or "cyber crime" lately.

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homero
Well there's a cybertruck now

~~~
numlock86
Yes, and part of the bad initial media responses (not regarding the cracked
glass of course) were in regard to that name.

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danesparza
Strangely, I recently got my degree IN email. I have a bachelors in electronic
mail communications. With a minor in instant messaging.

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jolmg
What were the more interesting things that it covered? I have a hard time
imagining it going beyond what one can find in RFCs.

~~~
danesparza
This is a joke, sorry. And apparently a poor one. :-)

~~~
jolmg
Well, you know, since there's Social Media degrees nowadays, a degree in
E-Mail isn't really that outlandish as it would have been some years ago. :P

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tyingq
I'm a bit sad that the University of Phoenix was used as the example. They
just settled for $191 million with the FTC at the end of last year for various
scummy practices.

