Getting rioped off by long distance learning courses

dmg24

mountainofdebt wrote: »

For my mind there is only one long distance educational provider and that is the Open University.

Then maybe you need to expand your mind a little?

Many universities offer very good distance learning degrees.

Oldernotwiser

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Let's keep it simple - all distance learning courses except OU degrees and the like are a waste of money.

Rather depends what you mean by "the like".

marie2000

I am a part qualified accountant and in the process of completing my final exams. I have spent several years studying with a provider(BPP) who also provides distance learning. Many people who complete these courses get good well paid jobs. However BPP does not guarantee this. However, I work with someone who spent a year telling me how she completed a distance learning course with one of these companies who 'guaranteed' her a job and a salary of 30,000 and she would be a qualified accountant. I spent a year keeping my mouth shut in an effort to be polite. None of this has happened and her career as an accountant has finished before it started. Many people have very little understanding of what they are doing and as a result allow themselves to be taken advantage of.

Emmzi

career_changer wrote: »

Hi Emmzi

If you don't mind me asking, what course did you do with the OU?

Thanks

sciencey stuff/ still working towards my degree as I dont need it for my job. It's an interest thing. We do cool experiements with household stuff :-D

bestpud

I think many good institutions offer a long distance option for some of their courses (I know someone who is about to do an MA with one) but that is different from these ones who promise everything and make themselves appear well respected.

It's scary how gullible some people are imo.

satori

I study with the OU too (mainly Science courses). I'm unhappy about the course fees, and I don't go to tutorials as I'm afraid of being looked down on because of my job and my salary. It's not too posh though, and on the online forums, the students are mostly concerned with discussing the subject they're studying, not with bragging about their home, their mum and dad, their dad's job and salary, their latest holiday, their next holiday, the car dad's just bought them, their new laptop etc. The course material is of really high quality too.

I studied in a very elitist uni abroad when I was younger (it could have led to a career in investment banking if I had managed to stay on board) but unfortunately I was not making enough money to pay the rent, the books, the travelcard etc. and I had to drop out before the end of the 3rd year (no grants or bank loans available and no help from my family).
My colleagues at that uni had their daddies who were traders, university professors, politicians and the like, and they were absolutely loaded! They did not have 6-figure salaries yet, but their 'pocket money' was 2 or 3 times what I'm earning now, for a f/t job. They looked down their nose at less privileged people too: they would dash off to New York at the weekend to see 'this latest exhibition at the Metropolitan', or come back from the term break saying 'I spent fifteeen hours in the Galeri di Offizi in Florence'. When they learnt that you had never been to the States, or to Italy (still haven't as spent the last decades alternating work and job-hunting), they stared at you... and then decided to ignore you for the rest of the year. Once a colleague of mine (both parents traders at Societe Generale) was explaining that she never used public transport but always went everywhere by cab 'because in public transport you could be seated next to a cleaner'. I chirmed in: 'you are sitting next to a cleaner right now!' The horrified look on her face... As if I had told her I had caught syphillis working in prostitution to pay for my studies, or something similar.
Academically, I was doing better than most of these people, but I just didn't have enough money to live on. When I dropped out, I tried to get a job in a bank in London (the mailroom kind) for a couple of months, hoping to get a foot in the door, but I met with the same mentality coming from recruiters: your suit isn't expensive enough, we can't hire someone who is dressed cheaply.

Apart from the course fees, the big fault with the OU is that the degrees do not seem to be recognised. Even though I have passed Maths courses with high marks, I can't seem to get more 'mathematical' tasks in my team at work; these go to my colleagues who only have British GCSEs. I've recently asked to go part-time as I've been demoted to more and more mundane tasks at work (mostly filing, photocopying and data entry), as we have very little to do. I wanted to use the spare time to squeeze more OU courses, especially considering the way the fees have been going up.
My manager refused and told me that since my courses are with the OU, I should be able to pass the courses without studying the material... I'm doing Science and Maths courses, not Media studies...

chantelle87_2

DO you have a link to the news article at all please - I have been trying to find this as was very interested on what they had to say?

I am currently having a real drama with a Home learning College and just want to put the saga behind me! Its very distressing!

Oldernotwiser

satori wrote: »

Apart from the course fees, the big fault with the OU is that the degrees do not seem to be recognised. Even though I have passed Maths courses with high marks, I can't seem to get more 'mathematical' tasks in my team at work; these go to my colleagues who only have British GCSEs. I've recently asked to go part-time as I've been demoted to more and more mundane tasks at work (mostly filing, photocopying and data entry), as we have very little to do. I wanted to use the spare time to squeeze more OU courses, especially considering the way the fees have been going up.
My manager refused and told me that since my courses are with the OU, I should be able to pass the courses without studying the material... I'm doing Science and Maths courses, not Media studies...

Course fees with the OU are very reasonable with help for those on low incomes.
Your problem seems to be your attitude rather than the fact that you're studying with the OU!

heretolearn_2

satori,

I was really saddened by your post. Like the previous poster, I wonder how much of your disatisfaction comes from your attitude created by your previous experience of university, and is little to do with the OU. You seem to have had the misfortune to be surrounded by snobs at your first university, and now at your job. It's given you a big inferiority complex. Don't assume everywhere is like that.

Please start going to your tutorials. They are part of the course, part of the tuition you need, and you've paid for them. Go. Why would anyone look down on you? I've been to lots of OU tutorials and we've never spent a single second discussing our jobs or our salaries! We just get on with the work in hand. Any general chit-chat during breaks is still related to the course, or maybe whatever huge news story was on TV last night, or how the donuts here are a bit dry...you get the idea. Never anyone's background. The joy of the OU is that it is a great leveller. It does not matter who you are, what you've done, what you've studied before - I've always had a fantastic time mixing with other students. The vast majority are just ordinary working people like you. Some are mums at home with kids. Some are retired. Most groups have a huge range of ages, both sexes, all types of people. Please go.

On the 'expense' of OU - it is actually the cheapest university out there, on most courses. It's a lot lower fees than going to any of the other universities. It doesn't set out to be a 'cheap' option (hence cutting quality) but it does set out to be affordable to open up access. It isn't restricted to the government-set fees.

And on recognition, I think you just have the misfortune to either a) work for a bit of a knobhead or b) unfortunately there may be other reasons, perhaps performance or attitude related, for the way things are for you at work. OU degrees are usually highly valued by employers.