Columbia Southern University

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
My prior learning experiences are an Associate Degree from Coastline Community College in CA, and a Bachelor?s Degree from NYIT (New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury NY). Both are great institutions that are regionally accredited only.

As for CSU, I LOVE THIS SCHOOL! The support staff and professors are wonderful. The coursework in my Master?s program has the rigor one would expect from a university that has these specializations. CSU is not Harvard Law School, nor is it Yale University but it IS a fine university that primarily focuses on public safety related coursework and programs. For an ?online? university they are very involved with their local community. From what I have seen online (youtube) their graduation ceremonies have local, state, and federal politicians presiding. You don?t see that with many virtual universities.

I chose this university because it is very well represented and endorsed in the public service community fire, Police, Military, Occupational Health and Safety as well as several others. They are also learning partners with many fine organizations. CSU is not trying to be something that it is not. The few (one or two) negative reviews CSU has on this board appear to be grudge related and not based in overall fact. If one has a bad experience it is great to hear for about future reference but in general does not get the message out to the perspective students nor do ONE sentence reviews.

I spoke with several CSU students and graduates prior to applying. The National Accreditation through DETC was a minor issue for me at first as a PHD from another university is NOT in my future. I am done after the Master?s Degree!! (maybe)

As far as the DETC accreditation is concerned, it is approved/endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education and accepted by many other universities, but not all. Quite a few universities and colleges are now obtaining DUAL accreditation—regional and National. One just has to ask the registrar of the school they are interested in as to whether they accept national accredited semester hours, 70% will accept them in one form or another. "ALL" the credits I earned from NYIT were NOT accepted at all other regionally accredited schools that I applied to either. Some transfer and some don?t that is just the way it is. The reason I address this issue is the first post for this school looked like a five year old wrote it AND made a few uninformed statements about national accreditation and its acceptability. Research EVERYTHING before you take a single review as gospel.

I have 19 semester hours at this school so far and I could not be happier. The great thing about a school that is nationally accredited is the course work is very focused on the major. This is in stark contrast to my regionally accredited bachelor degree where I had to take tons of liberal arts courses to graduate (Blah!). At this level (Master) subject focus is key for success and that is the best part for me! At CSU I am writing (a lot), testing (weekly), and learning my major, ACTUALLY learning it and I love that.

At the end of the day the choice is yours, there are hundreds of colleges and universities out there to choose from. Research every option and make an INFORMED decision when it is choice time. Read all the online reviews then talk to the schools directly and decide.

Also, this school is very military friendly! They give the respect and support you (and I) deserve for our service.

Good luck