HA, 10/23/07 (update): JCJC to offer bachelor's degrees - USM Forum -- Message Board

info · Status: Offline

HA, 10/23/07 (update): JCJC to offer bachelor's degrees

ram · Status: Offline

So if I go to JCJC for two years and get an AA, I can sign up for online classes through Franklin University and get an undergraduate degree. Is my BA or BS from JCJC or Franklin? Couldn't I do the same thing already, from any junior college or any online provider?

Invictus · Status: Offline

ram wrote:

So if I go to JCJC for two years and get an AA, I can sign up for online classes through Franklin University and get an undergraduate degree. Is my BA or BS from JCJC or Franklin? Couldn't I do the same thing already, from any junior college or any online provider?

The bachelor's degree is from Franklin University. The way the Franklin online degree articulation differs from the more traditional approach that IHL uses is that Franklin will allow the student to transfer credit from the community college beyond the usual 64 hour limit. In essence, they consider some lower division classes (in specialized subject areas) to be the equivalent of university 300-level classes.

Glad to see JCJC is jumping on the bandwagon & getting press for this. Gulf Coast & Co-Lin have been allied with Franklin for several years... I believe Meridian & some other colleges are looking at it as well.

-- Edited by Invictus at 10:04, 2007-10-24

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

With a major state university thirty minutes down the road which charges substantially less, one wonders why this is attractive.

LeftASAP · Status: Offline

This is great news!! Now everybody in Mississippi will have a degree....but nobody will have an education. cry

Then twenty years from now people will wonder why we are on the bottom.

I still think we need another university branch in Wiggins. smile

...with a football stadium too. biggrin

History · Status: Offline

Add travel time, cost and convenience, is it less here?

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

History wrote:

Add travel time, cost and convenience, is it less here?

It's about $200 per three hour course cheaper at USM. For a full time student that could be $1000 a semester.

ram · Status: Offline

Curmudgeon wrote:

It's about $200 per three hour course cheaper at USM. For a full time student that could be $1000 a semester.

When you say USM is "$200 per three hour course cheaper" I'm understanding that you mean cheaper than Franklin, the school that would be awarding the undergraduate degree. I'm wondering if that comparison is what the prospective student would consider.

Won't the prospect be considering how many hours can be taken at JCJC, where the cost is even lower than USM? If I'm understanding Invictus's earlier post, the student can tranfer more JCJC hours to Franklin than to USM. From a purely financial standpoint, wouldn't the student net the cost of the more expensive (than USM) Franklin hours against the savings of the less expensive (than USM) additional JCJC hours?

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

From the write-up I read, the student takes a third year at JCJC for upper division credit from Franklin. I'd guess you would pay Franklin at their rate and JCJC would get a cut from Franklin.

The education issue which rocks me is the fact that the student spends three years at a JC and one year on line for an undergraduate degree having never spent an hour, day, or week in a university classroom with a university professor or with university students. It speaks volumes about the integrity of accrediting agencies that this could happen. One would hope that the IHL would jump on this as a subterfuge and violation of their authority to govern public upper division credit in the state. However, I'm not holding my breath.

This also explains why the plan might be attractive to the less than serious student.

Invictus · Status: Offline

Curmudgeon wrote:

This also explains why the plan might be attractive to the less than serious student.

Leaving aside the fact that IHL cannot regulate out of state colleges (it's Franklin and not JCJC or MGCCC that transcripts the upper division credit), I will note that SACS is not crazy about Franklin (which is accredited by North Central) horning in on "SACS territory." But the problem is on Franklin's side of the equation & not with a Mississippi junior college.

The real truth is that very few students in these parts take the "Franklin option." Franklin's online degree offerings are also very limited. But it fills a niche that nobody in any of the IHL institutions has had the vision to recognize, much less the gumption to address. Working adults with family obligations who live a distance away from a university -- and in this day of $3.00/gallon gas, that can mean 30-40 miles -- really aren't into taking on a pile of inconvenience to travel over to H'burg and get treated like an 18 year old.

-- Edited by Invictus at 22:37, 2007-10-31

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

While it is certainly possible to deliver a degree via the internet or correspondence, it may not be possible to deliver a college education. If you want major surgery, you are going to have to travel to a large hospital. If you want access to faculty, students, artistic events, and specialized equipment, you will have to travel to a university. It appears that too many administrators have taken the Wizard of Oz approach to education. To paraphrase -- I can't give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma.

astonished · Status: Offline

One should note that several of the degrees offered by the Franklin program are also offered on the Gulf Coast campuses of USM. My students indicate that advisors on the two year school campuses are strongly advising students to take the Franklin option.