Saturday, July 18, 2009

Western Governors University Earns Top 10 Ranking

Western Governors University's bachelor's degrees in business have been recognized as a Top 10 Best Buy by consumer group GetEducated.com. WGU's programs ranked eighth in affordability among 391 regionally accredited online bachelor's degree programs in business and management.

Undergraduate tuition for Western Governors University's College of Business programs is $2,890 per six-month term, or $23,120 for four years. However, because WGU uses a competency-based academic model that requires students to demonstrate competency in degree subjects in order to advance, students with prior education or experience or those who can commit additional time to study can often accelerate their programs, completing their degrees in less than four years, saving both time and money. Unlike most colleges, WGU does not charge tuition based on semesters or credit hours -- it is charged for six-month terms that can begin on the first day of any month.

According to Vicky Philips, GetEducated's founder, who began rating online colleges 20 years ago, students should compare cost and other benefits carefully before enrolling in online education. "Western Governor's is a fairly new university, so many may not know the name. Trust me, this will soon change. One of the best online educational values in these hard economic comes from this little known university. Here is a university that has been engineered from the ground up to serve a new generation of learners."

With more than 12,000 degrees now being offered online, potential students are asking what's different about all these schools? Why choose one online business school over the other? "That question," says Phillips, "can be easily answered for WGU. First, non-profit WGU shatters the mold for private online schools by being super affordable. Average cost nationwide for a regionally-accredited, online business bachelor's degree is $43,241. Choosing WGU can save online students an average of about $20,000."

By comparison, the nation's largest for-profit online business school charges over $64,000 for its Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. The most expensive online business degree can cost as much as $103,500.

Cost however, is not the only thing that differentiates Western Governors University. "WGU is a competency-based university," explains Phillips. "The university does not award degrees based solely on course attendance. A student's progress is determined instead by his or her ability to pass rigorous assessments that measure actual skills acquired as the student move through their online degree program. This type of system helps ensure competent college graduates. Traditional universities have a great deal to learn from WGU."

Western Governors University's distance learning Masters in Business Administration previously earned a top ranking on GetEducated's list of the Top Ranked Values in Online MBAs -- Regionally Accredited.

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