Northcentral University Reviews of Doctorates in Education

"Northcentral University gives you seven days to drop a course, but makes it hard to do so. If you want drop a course their website states to call or email your desire to drop the course but when you call them it goes to voicemail and they don’t call you back and when they do you are told per their investigation you did not leave a voicemail, and since you did not drop in time you own us money. It’s incompetent for a university to that answer their phone, investigate themselves, and them pass judgement that you own them money:"

"The professors at Northcentral University really care about your academic success. They will mold you into the person you desire to become. There are no handouts. You must be okay with constructive criticism. If you cannot handle constructive criticism, this is not the university for you. Trust that you will not be given a degree, you will work hard to attain your doctoral degree. Northcentral University has some of the best people working together to ensure your success. However, you as a person must bring your perseverance, rest but don’t EVER give up attitude, respecting constructive criticism because you are learning, effective time management strategies while sacrificing your time to research. You will experience Imposter Syndrome. You will experience times of second guessing what you have gotten yourself into. It happens to the best of us but DON’T GIVE UP! Blessings, Dr. V. Fason"

"I would not recommend Northcentral University. If you are serious about your online education, do not attend NCU. The online department of this school is extremely unprofessional. They will disconnect a call if the employee cannot answer your question. They do not care about your GPA or how hard you work and take your education seriously. The school's agenda is to make money and impact the school's bottom line. You will not find the support you need to complete your program. My advisor quit and I was not notified. This school will withhold stipends for as long as possible before releasing them. I completed my first year at this school for a PhD in education I only experienced two professors that gave relevant feedback during that year. Coaches at the school need 24-48 hours before a scheduled appointment (you have been warned). There will be no support for quick questions as all correspondence takes 48-72 hours to get back to you at the least. There are no discussion areas not even in the commons area. The commons area is to push the school's agenda. The material they provide is all outdated and it is up to the student to find relevant material. Most of the material that is offered does not reflect the current course topic. I only experienced one course that provided relevant study material. You will learn at NCU if you are an independent student but be warned if any problem does come up, you will slip through the NCU's cracks. NCU's system is set up to capitalize on your failure not your success."

"I have attended multiple online schools and received multiple degrees (Bachelor and Master). I was at NCU for 4 years working on my PhD but I have since withdrawn due to their "for-profit" and unethical practices. First, throughout my courses there were a couple of red flags but all online schools have a couple of red flags. I had one instructor who refused to grade per the assignment rubric because she said she didn't create the course so she wasn't going to follow rubrics or assignment instructions. Second, the courses use free online books, TED talks, You Tube videos, or whatever they can find free for each class. The instructors are not capable of teaching and none of the TED talks or You Tube lectures are made by NCU instructors. The textbook in one of my courses was the same textbook I used to get my Master's in Education over 10 years ago!! It was from 2007 and outdated. Third, when the software updates and the free online assignments are no longer valid, the instructors will not look into it and will only grade from their answer sheet. When I went onto the school commons discussion board to ask if other students were having the same problem, my advisor told me students are not allowed to go on the commons for problems in their course. Fourth, I had an instructor who would only check into his NCU students once a week. On that day, he would respond to any email questions and grade assignments. If he could not get to your assignment or missed your email, you have to wait until the following week for him to get to your assignment or email. He is very open about this policy and it is posted right in his courses so NCU is well aware of this low quality instructor. These red flags are just in getting through the courses. I went to such a high quality, rigorous school for my Master's that I did not learn anything new in my PhD courses at NCU. Then I went into my dissertation. Everything went fine for the most part until after my study. My chair did drag her feet a bit in the first three chapters, enough to drag out the extensions but the feedback was good and my dissertation kept moving forward. The problems started after my study was completed. My chair would only review a section or a few paragraphs of a section each time. The feedback was minimal. I went into counseling because of my frustration and my counselor advised that most dissertation committees haze their dissertation students. However, mine quickly felt like it was beyond hazing and it was just so the school could make money. My final straw was when I turned in my DM and my chair gave me a 6 minute feedback about how I needed to rewrite chapter 1 because her personal experiences didn't match the research I had used in my chapter 1, this was over a year after chapter 1 had been approved. I did some extra research into this because I felt this feedback was unethical. That is when I found the prior class-action lawsuit. I went through the file for the class-action lawsuit and more then 90% of the line items had also been my experience. That is when I realized that NCU is still running as a for-profit school, even though they now claim to be a non-profit school, and they were intentionally dragging out my dissertation to maximize their money. My chairperson may have been hazing me but she also wanted all the money from putting me into extension courses. Since I have withdrawn, I owe over $3000 because I went into the second week of my course doing the extra research into the ethics of the school. I have been contacted up to 3 times a day to either pay up or reenroll and the school uses all the same phone tricks the spam calling companies use. This is one of the worst online universities. I'm sure you can find worse but there are a multitude of better universities that are completely online. Also, I have since learned that a teaching certificate is required to teach at the university level. This is something NCU does not offer and their admission advisors specifically say a teaching certificate is not required because once you receive an EdD or PhD from NCU, you will be able to teach in higher education."

"Unfortunately this review has been up and down. I have not felt supported by my committee at all. My loans are so much and I have made progress bit by bit and this has been with outsourcing my support from coaches and editors to assist with editing. I have hit delays after delay. Setback after setback. I have gone through almost every course sequence. There resources are there and I have used all of them. I lost my entire passion of completing this program. My only goal is merely to finish since investing so much time and money. I am currently unmotivated. I had to take a delay to reset my mind. I feel like my committee has no interest in seeing me finish. There is a positive here but also some negatives. It has been great seeing the rapport my cohorts have had with their chairs and seeing them at the finish line has been a motivation."

"THIS IS A CORRESPONDENCE PROGRAM. NO TEACHING EVER OCCURS. You teach yourself and use computer generated feedback. IF you WANT to pay for ZERO LEARNING OR INSTRUCTION this is the place for you. ONLY CONCERNED if your papers are in APA FORMAT. NO consistency with “professors or feedback or information given in their HIGHLY recommended workshops MONEY GRAB the LOW, 30%, graduation RATE ISNT DUE TO QUALITY OF GRADUATES IS DUE TO students get wise and dropping out of ridiculous program."

"Northcentral University provides rigorous curricula delivered by scholars who are experts in their fields. Programs are well designed with professors establishing high standards of performance for students. NCU degrees are earned not given. Therefore, when the degree is conferred, it actually holds merit, and the recipient can be proud in knowing that their hard work in conjunction with guidance from true scholars got them to the finishline. I've attended courses and/or online programs at four universities... NCU is by far the exemplar of institutions of higher learning online. The 1-1 model is convenient and personal attention is great for people who want to advance their knowledge and attain higher degrees while working full or part-time. However, any online program also requires a student to be self-directed and self-motivated. Do not expect to have your hand held. A degree is HARD WORK...NOT A HAND OUT. I get sick of reading posts from whiny, disgruntled students who want an advanced degree but dont want to WORK for it. I am honored to be an alum of NCU. Thanks for the great ride NCU!! I love my alma mater."

"Unfortunately, after I enrolled, I learned this is a PHD program that accepts over 90% of unqualified PHD candidates who were rejected by accredited universities. The students here have poor academic records or backgrounds, so this program is their only chance to complete doctoral level work. The program is a series of templates and modules, not a rigorous PHD program. Run!"

"I have attended four different universities that offer online courses and programs. In comparison, NCU is by far the highest quality education. The curriculum is rigorous, and expectations for academic performance are high, which (in this day and age) is appreciated by people who set high standards for themselves. I felt like I earned my degree. My education at NCU has enhanced my professional perform and and options, and I'm proud to be part of the NCU alumni. Additionally, professors are expert-scholars who want their students to succeed in their chosen degree plans by making every effort to support them through the process. Tuition is comparable to other online universities. I strongly recommend NCU to anyone who is considering online degree programs."

"I dropped out because the assignments are rather dumb. You'll be asked to create PowerPoint presentations as assignment for a graduate-level course. Where's the research? I also had a problem with a professor who 'only graded on Monday's and Tuesday's" instead of within the 4-day timeframe. She was making up her own rules."

"Terrible place. I had a professor who refused to give me a grade on any of my assignments during a whole course because she did not like my already approved future dissertation topic. At the end of the course, she gave me an F with no justification. My academic adviser told me there was nothing I could do except pay to take the course again. I retook the course with a different professor, turned in all of the same work, and received an A. What a joke. Once the dissertation started, everything was a mess. My academic/financial adviser was switched constantly. I finally ended up with an adviser that was impossible to get in touch with and only bothered to reach out to me when there was an issue with payments. My dissertation adviser was switched constantly as well. Every time I would make progress, my dissertation team would be replaced, and the new team would want me to go back and start from the beginning. No one was ever on the same page. I would write a chapter. My dissertation chair would tell me to change it to something else so I would. Then the academic reader would come along and tell me it should be more like the way I had it originally. And, since it was an online school and the faculty worked from all over the country, none of these people would ever interact with each other. It was a nightmare, and I would not recommend this school to my worst enemy. Take your time and find a good school that you can attend on location, or even a reputable school that has an online program, but actively avoid NCU."

"This school was a complete waste of time. They outsource your learning to a Peregrine system and the professors are clueless. Do not waste your time or money...seriously!!! They have zero problem solving skills, zero interest in students and horrible follow up."

"Entered the Doctoral Program in Education. Successfully completed all course requirements and began myPhD candidacy . The Dissertation process was devastating!theiir personal The chair person was very subjective and provided no objective support. I felt I was writing my dissertation for their benefit. No thesis or subjectcmatter was right. I am going to complete the program regardless."

"I think the instructor's were good until I hit the Dissertation phase. Dissertation chair was unhelpful and I asked for a new one and got a better one. I felt like I was not getting enough direction with the Dissertation process and had to figure everything out on my own with the first chair person."

"I am poised to defend my doctoral dissertation. Thinking over the past four and a half years, there is no doubt that my experience has been positive. The work is as rigorous as at brick-and-mortar school, maybe even more rigorous. Although it has taken a little longer for me to complete my program, I am satisfied with my experience at Northcentral University. I found the faculty supportive and usually available to answer questions or provide any ecessary clarification."

"The doctoral program at Northcentral University is designed for serious students. It is asynchronous, follows a written curriculum, and is evaluated using course rubrics. You will have a one-on-one relationship with your mentor (who will guide and support you) but you, the learner, has the more active role in your learning success."

"They keep raising tuition every few months or so. I wish I had chosen a college that guarantees no increases after you begin (they do exist). Advisors have been rude and have enrolled me in incorrect courses, then would not correct their mistakes nor return calls or respond to e-mails. I regret spending my time and money here; it is very difficult to transfer credits in Ph.D. programs, so I will have to start over if I go elsewhere; however, I cannot continue at Northcentral with the frequent rate increases and service that keeps getting poorer and poorer. Turns out they were not truthful about costs when I enrolled. Fortunately, more reputable brick and mortar schools are now offering online programs at more affordable rates and will hopefully run schools like this out of the market. I am thinking of reporting them for their practices."

"I cannot with a good conscience recommend this school. You teach yourself and instructors are paper-graders. Faculty and staff pretty much come and go. They had several different provosts during my stay. There are lots of issues with good instructors who feel they are not valued, nor receive tenure. The coursework is relatively easy. The comprehensive exam is a little challenging. Then the dissertation is a nightmare. What makes it more difficult is that being an online school, the student does not have immediate access to his or her chair. I attended about seven years. Everything is fine until you run into issues, then the truth is revealed. Don't forget it is a for-profit institution and run by business people, not educators. You feel proud (Maybe) to have the doctorate, but you earned it in sweat and money."

"I'm not sure if many people get that ALL universities are FOR PROFIT now... even if they don't say that, and many people pay a lot of money for colleges and still get treated like crap. I was at UVA... it cost $40K a year and most of the the professors never had time for you. I had a STAT's 2 teacher who couldn't speak English clearly and no one in the department would help me. I had an advisor who was nuts - even got arrested for grand larceny, but he's still there. So please don't think that in-person universities are better. I'd rather know that I'm at a for profit university - they know their job is to take care of their customers. I did a lot of research to find NCU. Yes, you have to be responsible for keeping up with your progress and finances, because the advisors are just logistics people, but I've also had some really amazing professors who have far surpassed the quality of instruction I received in UVA's grad program. My research writing has improved significantly because of the professors at NCU. The books that they select and the sequential design of my program has allowed me to build one skill on top of the next. The feedback that I've received from most of the professors has been great. I used to ask for help at UVA and they called me lazy... they made me second guess my abilities during a serious medical issue... so I left. NCU has much better about accommodating me. FYI - it is a great bang for the buck, especially when compared to the money I paid at UVA and got very little back for it."

"I began my PhD journey in May of 2012 and defended my dissertation in September of 2016. The program I was in was rigorous and I spent many hours each week during the course work to complete my assignments, the bulk of which were 5-7 page papers; at the end of each (8 week) course, there was a signature assignment that was more along the lines of 10-15 page papers. I learned a great deal in these classes. You absolutely need to be intrinsically motivated to succeed at NCU. There is no one there to remind you to submit. You have to know your stuff. APA 6th ed. format is a requirement, and it must be adhered to. I had one chair in the dissertation stage. She was helpful, offered clear feedback and always stayed within the required response times as indicated by NCU. My committee members overall seemed to genuinely care about my research and were also helpful, articulate. They all challenged me, asked difficult questions and as a result, my dissertation is something I am truly proud of. It is hard to stay motivated and focused for four+ years, essentially give your life over to academics while still working full time. I would recommend NCU to someone who is a self-starter, who doesn't need a ton of affirmation. While my academic adviser always had the correct answers, and got me the information I needed, she wasn't my personal cheerleader or advocate. The expectation is that students are independent learners, workers and self-advocates. The only real frustration I experienced was with the length of the Institutional Review Board Review. However, my friends who have studied in brick and mortar schools have shared that the situation with IRBs is tricky everywhere. I loved my experience at NCU. I am glad I did it. And... I am glad to have those three magical letters after my name now ;)"