University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by zerof1l on Thursday June 11, 2020 @09:49PM (#23495187)

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.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by BeetleB on Friday June 12, 2020 @01:17AM (#23496272)

> 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.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by uopeoplestudent on Friday June 12, 2020 @02:49AM (#23496705)

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.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by misterhtmlcss on Thursday June 11, 2020 @10:43PM (#23495476)

That's what I'm finding. I started with one course because I was worried about time to study and time with my wife and child, but now I'm thinking I could do 2 courses probably without too much concern.

My only worry is the Math course. Not having gone to University or high school in 20 years I'm fearful. The other courses have been easy so far though, but like you I'm working on the field, so it's not so new to me.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by BossingAround on Friday June 12, 2020 @02:40AM (#23496663)

The math courses were surprisingly difficult for me, but in general, quite good. I spent way too much time on College Algebra (I kid you not, like 20+ hours every week--the pace is insane, they give you like 20-40 pages to read, and a number of assignments).

I'm happy I went through them, but yea, MATH1201 was kinda difficult and MATH1280 was super boring (but not as difficult to be honest).

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by salutis on Friday June 12, 2020 @04:21PM (#23503463)

A fellow student at UoPeople here. I too spent an enormous amount of time on College Algebra. I did nothing but math, morning till evening, all day every day. I dreamt about math at night. And guess what? It was one of the best periods of my life. I fell in love with math.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by BossingAround on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @01:47PM (#23541918)

Yep, same here... I also thoroughly enjoyed it, and was deeply dissatisfied with how easy was the final test, which for me tested very little. Seeing as they do not allow a calculator, that limits a lot of possibilities for problems on the test.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by TrackerFF on Friday June 12, 2020 @08:07AM (#23498391)

YMMV. When I took Calc 3 at a "legitimate" university, we were told that the class would probably require a good 30 hours a week. I don't think I ever spent more than 5 hours a week, and I still got out with a good grade.

On the other hand, I've had small classes worth only half the credits, with absolutely ridiculous workloads.

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Re:University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online... by poma88 on Friday June 12, 2020 @03:01PM (#23502483)

>In reality, it took me half of that time. Usually 10 hours per week.

I got a bachelor in a normal university while having a full time job in the last two years. I see no issue about this point.

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