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Q. I have endlessly drilled all corners of the web, I have read many officially recognized hard copy materials; I have looked everywhere and can not find unbiased information about the rankings of online college and universities. Seems as though any organization that is willing to pay for the advertising, or spend even more to get their name on the top of the list gets noticed. Everything that I have read that is factual is primarily focused on traditional brick and mortar types of institutions, understandably, as this caters to the popular majority. I can't help to wonder that the reporting industry on the college and university ranking and ratings are behind the curve in gathering and publishing such information, or I've not turned over the right stone yet. Doing research for quality accredited online learning institutions solely based on the web (about the only place to do such a thing) can sure be misleading is your not really careful and ask a lot of detailed questions of say, the top 25 (all regionally accredited). And at that, you have to be left with a shadow of a doubt, as there is no "Consumer Reports" like publication to help back up your research. We have a senior in HS in the house, we have been doing a lot of research for the last 1.5+ years on his behalf, we have learned so much (wish I knew back in the day what I know now) and he now has 3 walk-on invitations from Baylor, TCU and SMU, and we are awaiting hopefully for a scholarship/partial scholarship from at least one if not two university. He has taken the SAT and ACT three times now, he has a 3.4 GPA, SAT-1100, ACT 26 and he's a talented football player. So we know a lot in relationship about the young people and the road map for getting a higher level of education, inexpensively, right after high school to traditional colleges and universities. But the info sorely wanes for the adult learner like myself wanting to go back to school and complete a BS and move onto a masters, all online (the kicker). You know the story, we both work full time, have another young child at home not in kindergarten yet, etc. So I'm researching Online's for my wife and myself so we can complete our 4-year degrees, yeah, higher education isn't just for young adults, but we don't have the same kind of time and freedom that the young college people have (not to mention we help foot that bill). It seems as though the mere mention of an online university evokes the idea of "diploma mill" or a form of a lesser education in the minds of many. (Even though many large corporate American organizations have changed their views about accredited online/DETC's ~ 3 -4 years ago (a good sign for many like me)) As a result, it's hard to get hardly anyone to focus their attention to my questions on the topic; does anyone know where I can find official unbiased information on the rank and ratings of online universities? What the weighting of an online institution is compared to another online institution or even a comparison of an online to a traditional and visa-versa? Please, help! Questions, comments, any kind of positive and/or negative feedback (don't hold back) are most welcome.

A. My experience with my 2-year AAS at Angelina College was all but completely discounted as in it was treated a worthless paper by the likes of Dallas Baptist University, University of Texas at Dallas, Amberton University and even by two Jr. Colleges, Collin County Community College and Richland Jr. College. In affect, if I was to take classes at these Jr. Colleges, with the idea of transferring the credits to UTD, DBA or Amberton, I was in basically going to have to start all over again from scratch. And it's the same story for the 4+ year institutions as well, they would accept next to nothing and I was back at square one. It would take what, a working adult one class a semester…, approximately… an eternity to complete. Just what percentage of those people actually complete? Not many, but those educational intuitions will have profited by taking their money and could care less if you made it or not. It's all quite disgusting if you ask me, not to mention very discouraging, and I know I'm not alone in what I've experienced and how I feel. Yet I still chipped away at these various institutions, mostly technical courses that personally interested me and could help bring a level of benefit to my daily livelihood, as in my career. It was clear that both the Jr. Colleges and the higher learning institutions (that I went to in my area) were out to fleece me for as much money as they could get, praying on my desires to better my level of education. What was a little more cutting was the way they made me feel like, a second-class citizen, when discussing my options; I'm a very successful adult, not a youngster right out of high school with no real brains, I had a tech degree and very valuable real world technical working experience (you know, what they outsource for as supposedly no one here has it (yeah, riiiiiight, another topic of discussion)), and apparently resumes mean nothing to these people, which makes me question their reading and comprehension abilities. I simply wanted to complete missing part of my education, that's all. I was prepared to take a few pre-req's and pick up where I left ff more or less. That of course does not fit into the plan of robbing people like me blind, so I speculated, perhaps digressed (sorry) and as you can tell by now if your still reading, I have an axe to grind with them all. About my Sr. HS, it's important to him and to us as his parents, that he experiences the full college "package" by attending a traditional brick and mortar, 500 people crammed in a lecture hall, a frat house, drugs, drinking, women, the whole nine yards. Well, I hope he makes wise decisions about the drugs and drinking, he has so far, and I am kidding around a little but here (not about the dope). Scholarships, walk-ons, FAFSA/FA, whatever it takes, he shall do well and needs to take that path, at this time in his life, it's most recommended in this parents opinion. For me, it's a whole other ball game. I recently attended the University of Phoenix (yes, add another one to my list, the fact is I'm a believer in continuing education), minus my gripes; I really liked the place, better than any other place I've attended thus far. But they're mighty pricey (when company tuition reimbursement doesn't pay)! I did the Flexnet, the 100% online version is even more expensive. I originally was going to take two classes per year as that is what my company's tuition reimbursement would cover per year. After getting there and realizing that I needed to stop playing around and go non-stop till completion I was going to have to get this financed. That's where the real sticker shock came in, so I started to research alternatives. Traditional institutions were off the list due to my prior negative experiences. I wanted 100% online, as the once a week class plus once a week Learning Team meeting was an inconvenience do to personal family arrangements. The new place had to be regionally accredited. And of course, it had to be affordable. I boiled it down to 5 places; Kaplan, Walden, IAU, Capella & Strayer. WGU, the only real online non-profit (really inexpensive), they proctored all their exams, and I found that to be a great inconvenience, not to mention, kind of blows the concept of 100% online too. So after going through all the pros and cons and who would accept what from my 80 credits and 20+ years of technical work experience, Kaplan University won, I'm enrolled, have FA going on, and will start my 1st classes next mid-January. I've discovered a number of validating points that Kaplan has over many of their competitors, but I want something like a number. In short, when I see my buddies that I grew up with, some with 4-year degrees, others with masters, a few in the educational world. I don't want to hear diploma mill, or even the suggestion of nor a slighting comment on the quality of my education from Kaplan University Online over some traditional institution. I know it will come up. This is why I'm looking for facts, weights, rating and rankings to prove that the format of my education is as of the same, hell, even better than their own quality of education. I need some bullets.

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