Bachelors of Business Administration

REVIEW THIS DEGREE

Name: SCFagan

Current Grad Student. AA and BA from Strayer. Been with Strayer since 2002. Strayer has improved considerably over the last few years although the staff of the business office and customer service could use a lesson in how to treat people who have spent a considerable amount of money with them. They have a poor attitude when dealing with students. The financial aid office is doing better now than in previous years. I believe this to be due to an improvement in technology resources available to the financial aid office. When I first applied to Strayer in 2002, most everything had to be paper and faxed to the school. Now most everything is done online. The instructors are knowledgable and have a wide variety of degrees and experience. Most seem to teach at other colleges including on-ground classes as well as online. The classes for the most part are relatively easy as long as the work is done. Almost everything is open book so if you can read, you can pass. The exception is the math courses that require more than reading, you must actually do the equations. The upside is that there are free tutors available, the instructors have a lot of resources on the web to help you and there are ample practice opportunities. The classes are completely online and recently they have converted to an all BlackBoard system so it is really improved the way you access information and your classes. The biggest drawback that I can see that still exists, is that Strayer is taking college textbooks, condensing them, and creating their own private label text that are required for the classes. These texts seem to be updated frequently so the chance of you finding a used textbook is slim in some cases. The textbooks also are exclusive to the Strayer Bookstore which sells the required text for a premium price. Although they do offer buyback on some books, the buyback program doesn't seem to cover the most required textbooks. That being said, there are plenty of students from Strayer selling books so if you are diligent with online textbook shopping, and search in areas where Strayer has on-ground campuses you are more likely to find a used textbook. Also, you can purchase e-books for a few of the classes so you can reduce the expense for a textbook that way as well. Bottom line: there is always room for improvement. Overall a good choice for learning and still affordable even though there are cheaper schools. Financial aid can be obtained to cover the full tuition for Associates, Bachelors, and Masters degrees depending on your financial situation. I have compared Strayer to University of Phoenix, Western Governors University, and Capella. I chose Strayer because of the relaxed atmosphere created by the school and its instructors. It seem to be the school with the least amount of hassle as well. Note: The different departments of Strayer never seem to know what is going on with you as a student. Almost as if the Business, Academic, and Fin. Aid offices are connected to each others computer systems and they don't talk to each other or share information so you must call several different people/departments to get something done. It's not impossible if you are invested in your education. Just a hassle. But like I said, not as much of a hassle as some other schools I attended. I actually left Strayer and then came back because it was less hassle than the other school was putting me through.

Not very good course content. The instructor must adhere to "policing" by an audit group of amateurs. No criticism of students is permitted, since they are customers at the for-profit school. Deans are of no value to the instructor since they have little knowledge about subjects or how to manage. For the most part there is no open dialogue at Strayer--it is their way or the highway. Disappointing school.

Strayer Online has a real problem. I think they have a bunch of 5 year olds working the phones...I started my degree online and quickly switched to the on campus program when I realized that the "online" campus employees were morons. After that I did not have any more problems. The school is extremely costly though and the rates do seem to rise dramatically each year. It is also important to hang onto your textbooks and not sell them right away because often they are needed again in another class but you don't find out until it's too late.