Colorado Technical University - Online

I had a great experience with Colorado Technical University. I started with my Bachelor in Psychology and today, I am graduating with my Masters in MBA Generals program. Its sad to read all these reviews form other students compare to what I have experienced CTU is a very organized school and it has the best professors and the best staff members. I would definitely recommend CTU to other students. The diploma is a 100% legitimate. I am very happy that 'I did it' and, I am the first one in my family... Read More to earn my Master`s degree program.

I've got a year and a half left for my undergrad at CTU. The only value it provides (And yes, I literally mean ONLY value) is the piece of paper at the end. Want to make connections? Forget it. Want to learn - literally anything? Learn it yourself. You'll get an easy A by doing work that I've literally scripted out to do automatically. It's a diploma mill. - But I can work 40 hours a week and get my schoolwork done at the same time - and have all the time in the world to learn software engineering... Read More on my own. I would say only a few colleges are actually any good, but even then their price tag isn't worth it. If you're capable of learning things on your own (or if you're actually braindead and need an easy degree) This school is perfect. However, it's starting to churn out lesser qualified individuals - who negatively impact the school's brand. Most work professionals don't hold their CTU peers in high regard based on the literature I've read. - have yet to see this first hand, but from my experience can confirm this school is a facade for a diploma mill.

I have finished my degree program in CTU with a Bachelors in Information Technology Management. Here is my complete honest review about the school. You do not see too many reviews from people who have actually finished the program, especially with a detailed review. I would rate this school somewhere in between 3.5 to 4 stars if possible. Learning environment The first 2 years were mainly focused on general ed courses which were typically completed through Intellipath. Intellipath is where most people... Read More tend to complain about the most because they do not feel like they learned anything through intellipath. For those of you who do not know, Intellipath courses are basically a bunch of small quizzes usually between 8 to 12 questions long per a section. The school provides you with the reading material to complete each quiz, and it is an open book test. If you fail, you have the option to go back and keep retaking these little quizzes until your score improves. The length of each intellipath varies, I have seen some as small as only covering 5 subjects with 5 quizzes, while others can be 12 and can be very time consuming. The grade that you get for your intellipath quizzes depends on the effort that you put into it. Half ass work equals half ass grades. Further down my program, the last two years of my degree Intellipath had remained absent. Now that I was working on my core classes pertaining to my actual degree, I found myself writing 5 page essays from each class every week. These assignments required that we did plenty of external research in order to complete out assignments. This is where I feel that I have learned the most throughout this program, by doing outside research and writing 10 pages every week combined. On top of that, we also had to write discussion boards which also involved additional research and had to write between 600 to 800 words for each class, every week. This school did have a lot of hands on learning to offer as well from web developing, to programming, and even taking lab simulators. This school also utilizes Lab Sims and in case if you do not know what that means here is what I just copied and pasted: "LabSim is TestOut's learning platform. It delivers our certifications and courses, including our best-of-class IT simulations. It also provides tools for educators to manage and assess student learning. The LabSim courses keep students engaged and allow them to monitor their progress." Through Labsims, they made us watch a whole bunch of content that felt like it lasted forever. There was a lot of content to take in but it was all very valuable knowledge. For my degree plan, we used Labsims for A+ computer engineering learning, Network +, and Security +. However, you will not get your Comptia Certifications from this school but it does provide you with the tools to help you prepare for it. There were also a lot of lab simulations where I had to select different components and plug everything in to build a network as well as troubleshoot virtual desktop computers. When it came to learning HTML, CSS, AJAX, Javascripting, Python and other additional content, there were a lot of hands on assignments where I had to create webpages or programs using expensive paid for tools that were provided for free by the School. I have done plenty of these assignments and am glad to have taken those courses. They were very challenging for me but I am glad to have learned those skills. The Professors When it comes to education the professors are the most important part about school. I have had plenty of good professors who were very knowledgeable in their field. Most of the professors that I had were professional and either had their Master's degree or PHD. Many of these professors have a life time worth of experience working in their career field and many of them currently teach at other universities. I have had a few professors who taught at respectable schools including Harvard and worked at CTU on the side. Most professors that I had were very helpful and had no trouble communicating with them. You are able to communicate with your professor directly through emails or the school messenger chat, including through phone calls. The live chats are usually an hour long, some are 1.5 hours. CTU recently moved over to utilizing ZOOM to conduct our weekly lectures since covid had began. Zoom makes it easier for students to engage with the professor using a webcam, a mic, or through text. What I thought was great was that their lectures were also recorded and If you are a busy person working a full time like me, this came in handy because I was able to view these lectures at a later date. I found these lectures very important to watch to complete my written assignments or my classroom projects. However, I did not find these necessary for Intellipath related assignments, but watching these videos are still very helpful to understand the content better. There is no penalty for not watching the course videos, but I think that there should be because a lot of people choose not to watch these weekly lectures and therefore do not learn anything. I have had a few bad professors in my time with CTU who sucked at teaching, breaking down the assignments, and just did not make any sense. I also had a few teachers that were absolutely horrible with responding to my emails and messages, in one incident the teacher did not respond to me until the night an assignment was due. These bad teachers also failed to clarify my questions and just copy and pasted the project requirements. These bad teachers would also just read their power point presentations like a script which I found very problematic to me, because it was hard to learn. Most good teachers that I had encountered had always went beyond the power point presentation and taught from the heart. Many of the good professors I had were also providing information that was always current and up to date unlike many online schools that I have heard about. Tuition and Costs The Tuition is my main concern about this school because is honestly very expensive. I had to pay out of pocket for the first 2 years because my fasfa and military tuition assistance did not cover the entire fee. My first time signing a "Student Agreement" I had no idea that I was actually taking out a $6,000 loan to cover the costs for the school year. Every month I found myself paying about $250 to $300 out of pocket to pay back their loans. If I had missed a payment, then my phone would be bombarded by what felt like blood sucking vampires almost every week which would become very annoying. Therefore, I just stopped answering their calls and paid on my own terms. CTU does give you the opportunity to lower your monthly payments, however there is a catch. Each fiscal year they give you a specified amount to pay monthly, that way your loan can be paid off each year and you will be ready for the next one. If you lower your payments and you do not finish paying off your current loan, then you will be stuck paying for 2 separate loans by the next fiscal year and they will not combine both payments into one. They will always remain as separate loans. Luckily, i was able to use my Post 9/11 GI Bill to pay for the rest of my schooling, otherwise I would not have been able to complete my degree. Speaking of the GI Bill, If you are currently in the service your tuition rates will be lower, but once you get out of the service, your tuition costs will increase and will be paying civilian price, it does not matter if you are a veteran Another bad thing about this school is that if you choose to transfer your credits to a different school, they will not allow you to request for your Transcripts until your student debts are paid off. There is also a $150 fee you need to pay once you graduate, if you do not pay this fee then you do not get your physical diploma. Which reminds me, when you graduate and pay this fee, you also get 2 copies of your transcripts for free, digital or physical, or both. The good news is that Colorado Technical University is an accredited school just like Colorado State University is. Therefore, other colleges do accept any credits that comes from this school except for fast track courses. I have had friends successfully transfer to other schools with CTU credits. My Overall Opinion I did not have much of a problem with what I learned from this school, I feel like I have definitely learned a lot and I had to work my butt off to graduate. Their assignments can become quite overwhelming in the last 2 years of school. I do feel that there is plenty of room for improvement for education in this school. There were some classes where I felt that the subject itself requires the full 16 week semester course to fully grasps the subject. Professors were happy to provide me with PDF books for additional learning that I had asked for, after the completion of the class. Other classes were difficult because the subject was intense and should not be crammed together in just 5 weeks. However, the Majority of classes I took were well paced and I did learn a lot from them. I feel that this school can use more hands on learning than what was already provided, after all, this is a technical school. I am glad that I went to this school for its education and flexibility with my work schedule, but I would not recommend this school because of the ridiculous costs. The costs is where most people tend to complain about CTU the most. Just keep in mind that this is a For-profit school before you decide to attend CTU. This school has also been known to use sketchy marketing techniques to harass and target veterans for their GI bill money, and because of this, the V.A. has blacklisted this school from receiving any GI Bill funding until they fix their marketing practices. I am not one of those veterans who were harassed by this school, my overall experience with this school has been decent. I just wish that the costs were not going to be a problem with this school and that I could continue to communicate with my counselor. My counselor became unreachable after 1 month of being enrolled in this school.

By for the friendliest admissions counselor I've ever had although I didn't understand financial aid that much I'm learning to understand it I have a great admissions advisor he is the best I'm so glad that I picked this school because they were so friendly and they made me feel like I was welcome even though I don't have a laptop they have an online app that you can do on your phone which is I thought would be harder than it is but they offered me a laptop when the other schools said I had to have... Read More one immediately they were by far the friendliest and made me feel right at home even though I'm going online thanks Marcel you're the greatest

Worse experience! Easy to obtain, lack of real knowledge. Financial accounts continously finds ways to create financial burden. Dont respond to emails. Don't assist students well. Low job prospects due to school. Got high remarks and grades, but no real graduate help. Cost extremely expensive! Be prepared for fees outside of what is quoted. Graduation fees alone are $150 and up. Written by current graduate 2021. I personally feel this was a bad choice of a school based on my personal experience.... Read More Please don't make the same mistake!

I worked at McDonald's and they had a program where you could enroll for "free". I take a couple classes and the course work seemed really simple and not college level. I hit them up trying to leave the school and they threaded me with debt and other stuff. They said I still needed to pay some out of pocket so I did for a few months but after doing research I found out this school was a joke and not very professional. So I figured just stop paying them and ignore their calls. Yup that worked they... Read More never called me again and I went back to the community College in my area. Tl:dr: school is a scam if they try to make you pay later ignore them they won't don't anything.

Please whatever you do, don't attend this school; especially if you're military affiliated. I attended CTU 2017-2020 and the VA was covering my tuition 100% or so I thought. The student advisors do not care about your success and financial aid does not do their own job whatsoever. I had to take it upon myself to contact VA my graduation month to figure out why my payment was not dispersed to pay off the balance on my account. I'm expecting for them to say the payments were running late; but come... Read More to find out my benefits were cut short the beginning of this year. Mind you I graduated in June and received no communication from CTU nor did they contact VA. I contacted the school October 14 because I'm trying to go back to school for my Masters (not with them) and needed to get clarification on how much per month it would be for a payment plan. The financial aid rep stated that he saw that I didn't need to pay and that he was going to contact whoever to clarify then give me a call back the same day. Here we are October 19 still with no information and can't eve move forward with trying to attend school because this balance is holding me up. Also, this school claims that they're here to help yet they didn't put me into the yellow ribbon program which would take care of issues that arose like this. I should not have to pay the remaining balance on my account because the CTU financial aid staff did not do the job they were hired to do which was ensure that students finances were good to go.

If you have a life, kids, busy schedule and a tight budget don't think twice about this one. I chose online because it gave me the flexibility and to what I read affordability. Upon enrollment my first counselor was amazing, set me up well...but then when it came down to her passing me to the financial department they explained that all costs would be covered through my Federal Loans, not once was anything said in either email or phone calls that there would be any private loans or that I needed... Read More to specifically pay out of pocket to them. Class wise it was terrible, my last few classes had to be repeated twice since I was randomly dropped before my finals forcing my grades to plummet. Another difficulty was that the coursework rarely matched the quizzes so extra research and learning had to be done. The beginning of 2018 I had to pause classes because I had became unemployed so I asked for my most recent transcripts. They specifically told me I could not receive them until I paid off my debt. I was dumbfounded, my 20k in Fed Loan? The guy proceeded to tell me no the 10k in debt separately for the college. I was floored. He proceeded to threaten me with if you cannot make any payment we will give this to the main debt collectors causing it to affect my credit. Which at the time anyways, I didn't have much credit I was 22. I stressed to them that I already have to pay $500 to Fed Loan on top of their minimum at the time which was $300. If I'm only making less than $1,000 a month..you'd think I'd qualify for some sort of low income bracket or something. I ended up just hanging up in frustration. For the next two months I was constantly spammed with calls and emails. I eventually called back in March and requested that they send me all what I owe in the mail. They stopped contacting me up until this past month. They sent out an email saying the same thing about sending my debt to a collector and that they've been trying to contact me when I've only received one email this past almost year and a half now and I have yet to receive anything in the mail. I am now 25, 30k in college debt, with 4 years of college experience since I was forced to fail a few of my classes, yet I cannot finish my degree nor receive my transcripts until the debt is gone. Capitalism at its finest. So in conclusion, if you want to waste your time and money with no gain this is absolutely perfect.

I have been going to see to you for about a year my graduation date is February of 2020 all of a sudden my transcripts are not right I don't have a 2017 W2 I have sent all this information in and still they don't accept it whatever I do to try to help my financial aid out and not get kicked out of school is just not enough for them I was supposed to graduate in February 2020 for my associates my associates in science in Business Administration but looks like I won't be doing it now because I'm about... Read More to get kicked out of school within the next two weeks and I have my financial aid on hold so I don't even get a disbursement I'm broke I don't have any money this school is taking it all and I'm not even close I don't know what they want I can't do anything more so I am going to be looking for another school and hopefully I'll be successful I'm pregnant just learned I was pregnant one month so great this is just great I would not recommend this go to anyone the IRS has even told me there is nothing more that they could do because the information that they have is what CTU needs and again it's not enough I'm done with this place. I was going to stay in school to get my bachelor's and my Master's Degree as well but I can't even finish getting an associate's the hell with this place

I found my advisors to be very helpful. The online coursework is easy to get the hang of and with persistence you can get the hang of your course work very easily.

I received full financial aid so I did not have to deal with the financial aid department often however any valid complaint I have heard did center around that.

Fast tracks are amazing but BEWARE! They do NOT transfer! If you plan on going here take advantage of the fast tracks but follow through to your bachelors. Most schools will not... Read More take them because on your transcript it shows as having no grade. By far my biggest complaint.

Because of this other schools will not usually take your full associates as a transfer because it wont meet the requirements to be absorbed into their bachelors program. This admittedly was quite discouraging to learn after graduating with a 4.0 gpa and highest honors distinction that my degree was not considered complete due to the fast tracks and basically testing out of courses.

I recently graduated from CTU with a BS in Project Mgmt. and I am soon to finish a Master's in Project Mgmt. as well. CTU is a for-profit institution, their primary purpose is to make money. However, in my experience my success was truly dependent upon my own efforts and dedication as a student. As the title states, you get out of it what you put into it. All the negative reviews posted have common denominators, excuses and blame. Successful people don't make excuses, they understand the expectations... Read More and perform. On average, I had approx. 2-3 hours of homework every night after work. I graduated Cum Laude with a 3.6 GPA. I recommend CTU to individuals who are dedicated, hard working and are self reliant. In my experience, the instructors were very helpful and provided proper guidance. I cannot speak to the financial aid dept. as I paid for my schooling out of pocket. For those who are considering CTU, expect to write many 20-30 page papers for each course along with Intellipath and other applicable assignments. I believe CTU is beneficial for working professionals due to it's flexibility and intuitive platform.