Online classes allow workers to combine jobs, studies

New Orleans CityBusiness, Sep 27, 2004 by Tommy Santora

Darryl Ward was a 36-year-old director of the Department of Employment and Training in Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard's office when he first pursued his master's degree in business administration.

He wanted more business education but he couldn't stop working to support his family.

The University of Phoenix, which specializes in evening and weekend education through online and on-site campuses for working adults, enabled Ward to do both.

Two years later, he received his MBA and was promoted to deputy chief administrative assistant for the Jefferson Parish President, putting him in charge of eight departments.

Ward's success reflects a trend of professionals looking at obtaining MBA degree through distance learning and vocational schools.

The future right now for a lot of companies is unpredictable, so a lot of people come in and say they want to improve themselves, said Brent Fitch, vice president and director at the University of Phoenix Metairie campus. They want to put tools in their belt to be versatile in the job market. A career change can not only be a different field, but they can switch from doers to managers within the same company.

The University of Phoenix has 201,381 students nationwide on 142 campuses in 29 states with its headquarters in Arizona. The three campuses in Louisiana have a total of 2,300 students enrolled at the First Bank Center in Metairie or Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

The average age of a student that comes through here is 34, said Fitch. Students can still work their full-time job during the day and can complete their course work. More than 80 percent of our graduate students in New Orleans seek MBAs because the marketability of the MBA is attractive.

The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits more than 9,000 private and public schools in 19 states, has endorsed the University of Phoenix. The Higher Learning Commission is recognized by the Secretary of Education and the Committee on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation.

The graduate business programs at Louisiana State University, Loyola, Tulane and the University of New Orleans are accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a professional association for college and university management education and degree programs in business administration and accounting. The AACSB has 482 total members.

Our accredited schools have distinguished characteristics and have a distinct mission and resources to follow that mission to being successful, said Jerry Trapnell, chief accreditation officer for AACSB. We also know there is a diverse market out there for for- profit schools because adults are faced with difficult decisions on how much time they have and how much money they have to continue their education.

Fitch said the faculty enhances the University of Phoenix credibility.

Our faculty work in the field that they teach. We'll get someone who works as a CFO for a large corporation teaching accounting courses or an attorney teaching business law, he said. We get someone who deals with real-life issues all day and brings it to the class environment.

Ashington University opened as an online distance learning MBA degree school in Metairie in April 2003. It will seek accreditation through the Distance Education and Training Council after its two- year anniversary, according to CEO Terry Utterback.

The university has 40 students taking 11 courses at $900 per course to complete degrees. They perform course work at their own pace through fax and e-mail and online.

Ashington should graduate its first student by the end of the year, according to Utterback.

The exciting thing is you can stop and start when you want to, said Utterback, who has no students from New Orleans. We have mid- level students from all over the country who range from early 20s to mid-50s, and they want an MBA to help advance their careers.

University of Phoenix tuition is $975 per course for MBA students. Fitch said the average time to earn an MBA degree at the University of Phoenix is approximately two years with each course lasting six weeks.

There are two different types of master's programs in business at University of Phoenix: organizational management and an MBA program.

On-campus students attend one night a week from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. with an average class size of 15 students.

Students who pursue online courses take part in a FlexNet program, which lets students attend on-site the first week, then download and upload class discussions online for the middle four weeks before returning to campus for a final week of tests and presentations.

We're serving two different types of students, Fitch said. The local campus student wants that face-to-face interaction but the online student may be in sales and travels during the week, a mom who can't find a babysitter or someone who lives two to three hours away from campus and can't do anything else but go through classes online.