Liberty University

The Ph.D. online programs are designed to keep you in and keep you paying. They are the money makers for the University because most people in these programs are self-paid. Therefore, if you enroll, expect to take more than 3 classes to finish your dissertation once you get to that phase of the program. Expect to re-take courses and pay for each re-take. Advancing through the dissertation phases is a hard task and not at all like it is advertised. The program is structured to where the department... Read More head is in charge of approving all dissertations. Even if your paper meets the guidelines set forward by the program, you still may have to repeat classes because the department head deems your dissertation unfit. Lastly, getting responses and direction from the program seems to have gotten harder and harder. I really can't recommend the online Ph. D.s to anyone looking to start." It’s been a complete wreck the whole way through and I have reached out to the president about the issues and the dean and they just brush you off cause they know what they are doing. It’s a Christian university that looks to screw you over and take your money. It’s just not worth it.

Overall, I have had a great experience at this college. I am a junior, and of course, no matter your age we all go through many struggles in life. This semester I was struggling financially taking on a heavier class load…I spoke on the phone with Angela she was very understanding, patient, caring and went absolutely above and beyond to make sure I was able to pay payments whenever I could and how much I could. She is a very sweet blessing in my time at Liberty. Angela should be head of the financial... Read More department, things would be better. (:

I am deeply troubled by the pure lack of communication that I have experienced with this entire process trying to get into my Master's program. Literally NO ONE has contacted me at all outside of an occasional email once I keep calling in repeatedly. I have been trying to get through just the admissions process alone for WEEKS. I have finally been accepted. I call in today to find out about getting my degree audit done for my transfer of credits only to find out there is yet another step that NO... Read More ONE cared to contact me about not even via email. I am 4 weeks shy of the semester beginning and I still cant even anything accomplished because theres so many steps that they dont tell you about along the way they wait for you to reach out and then say oh by the way now you have to complete this. I am an allumni of Liberty and I am completely appalled that this is the experience when chosing to return to the school. I absolutely will not be completing my program with liberty A real GODLY way of conducting business. 

I am already an instructor at a college and I went back to get additonal education to further my career. I wanted to go to a Christian college since I was a Christian and I wanted a bibical education along with my Master's. First and foremost, the verbiage used in the online materials doesn't match the assignments. When I would reach out to my professor, I would either not get a response or the response I would get wouldn't answer my question. When I reached out to the college for additional support,... Read More I got a clapback from the professor and still not additional help. I get more grace and real-world education from secular schools than I was getting from Liberty. When I tried to withdrawal. The advisor kept asking me the same questions over and over and then when I got upset and told him that he was part of the reason I was dropping the college, he dropped me and wouldn't finish the withdrawal process. This college made me feel like I was crazy, they are good about talking like Christians, but there is a lot of PRIDE and Gaslighting.

Here's the honest truth. The professors are all good people. However, the Ph.D. online programs are designed to keep you in and keep you paying. They are the money makers for the University because most people in these programs are self-paid. Therefore, if you enroll, expect to take more than 3 classes to finish your dissertation once you get to that phase of the program. Expect to re-take courses and pay for each re-take. Advancing through the dissertation phases is a hard task and not at all like... Read More it is advertised. The program is structured to where the department head is in charge of approving all dissertations. Even if your paper meets the guidelines set forward by the program, you still may have to repeat classes because the department head deems your dissertation unfit. Lastly, getting responses and direction from the program seems to have gotten harder and harder. I really can't recommend the online Ph. D.s to anyone looking to start.

The instructors for the courses are hit and miss with some being very helpful and others not being helpful at all. The coursework was rigorous, but the nightmare occurs with the dissertation process. Chairs and readers will drop you with little notice or no notice at all. You will spend a whole semester waiting for a dissertation proposal to be reviewed, when the manual says two weeks, and have to repeat the course because the proposal was not reviewed. Despite approval from your chair and reader,... Read More one person is in charge of reviewing ALL dissertation proposals and completed dissertations. This same person teaches undergraduate classes, graduate classes, online classes, has outside commitments and is in charge of the program. Students sit idle for a semester and unnecessarily repeat classes because either the aforementioned person insists on maintaining control or is unable to structure a viable program. Either way, it is unethical and unfair to the student shelling out unnecessary dollars. There are other more cost effective and ethical programs. If you still wish to pursue this program plan on budgeting an extra $15,000.00 for unnecessary tuition.

I attended Liberty University for one week and this was my first experience back in College for more than 13 years. Liberty University is not a Degree Mill, however the sale department is strong and the Office of Disability and Services did not respond to my medical issues after several phone calls and also emails. I am using VA Benefits to complete the degree and I owe a bill after one week of over 2000.00 for 3 graduate classes that i had to withdraw from for medical reasons. They are about the... Read More Money period. If you want to learn how to use the resources offered the school will send you everything automated and you will need to be able to teach yourself and definitely make sure you are advised properly on the classes and the order you take them in. I love the sales pitch, prayer, and the model, however the fruits where not present when needed for me in my situation.

Let me begin by prefacing that I have my undergrad from another institution and I completed it entirely online. So, when I applied to the MA online program at Liberty I was expecting a similar experience. In some ways it was and not so in others. First, let me explain that like any online program one should expect a lot of self-teaching. Liberty and other online programs provide all of the information you need with the assigned readings and links to other various sources but ultimately no one is... Read More there with a lecture to interpret the material for you. That is just the nature of online learning and if you aren't comfortable with that you won't be suited for any online program. However, the class layout is not my complaint with liberty. I find fault with two items in particular. One of the chief issues is how the Christian centered approach is involved in almost every aspect of the education. I'm a former Catholic and attended Catholic schools as a youth and the level of religious indoctrination at those schools was nowhere close to what it is at Liberty. For example, I took a class on literary theory and we had to incorporate how interpreting literary texts using various theories such as Marxism, psychoanalytic theory and formalism tie into a biblical worldview. Even more odd and somewhat disturbing my professor would write in his announcements to the class that how some literary texts and theories might be at odds with what the religious values and beliefs Liberty professes to champion and so read with caution and skepticism. Granted, it is okay to be skeptical of many things, including literary interpretations but telling students that because you are religious or hold a belief than one should automatically approach a text or theory with reservation? Isn't one of the points of college to open one's mind and not close it off even further? Be prepared, as other reviews have indicated, that the religious aspect is paramount at this institution. Many professors are very devout people and will remind you of such. As someone who knew this going in and was fine with that even I was astounded at how much it interferes with the actual teaching and learning, it is almost cult-like and uncomfortable. Almost every discussion and every assignment will ask how it relates to the Bible or how it relates to a biblical worldview in some capacity. Not only does this add more work on the student it also doesn't always belong with what is even being studied and so it seems both irrelevant and unnecessary in most cases. In some instances it seems to even take away from the importance of the subject in study and shift it to the Bible which is not what a graduate level program in any field aside from religious studies should be doing. However, religious bent aside, the actual course materials and expectations from the student were on par with other colleges I have attended and where I finished my undergrad. Liberty isn't a diploma mill by any means but it is perhaps a bit zealous with its religious emphasis. I am also leaving one star because the communication from the school is rather bad. In my previous online program financial aid, admission and registration was a breeze. At Liberty not so much. First, upon applying and receiving acceptance into a program you aren't really connected or assigned to anyone and much of the onus is on you to navigate how to go about registering for classes as well as figuring out the learning platform called Canvas. Also, even though I had gotten an official acceptance, Liberty email, ID and registered for classes I got an email saying there was an issue with my financial aid. I contacted the financial aide office and they informed me that I was flagged for loan overlap from another college which I thought odd because I wasn't enrolled anywhere else. I was told to wait for a few days and I did. The issue was still not resolved. When I phoned financial aid once more I was told that the issue would be resolved and that there was no loan overlap. I was told again to wait for several days which I did. The issue once was not resolved. I called once more and spoke with someone in the financial aid division who said, "Oh, there is no loan overlap, you have an account hold because you haven't been officially accepted into your program so I'm not sure how you were even able to register for courses." I wasn't either. I was then directed back to admissions and the admissions rep fixed the issue but was also baffled when I told him that I'd received an acceptance letter and had registered for classes. I am telling this story to illustrate that the whole online onboarding process needs a lot of work and it seems that I was bounced from person to person with no real understanding of what was going on and it sounded like most of them were working from home and couldn't communicate effectively with other divisions and departments. I am thankful that eventually it was all ironed out and I'm currently wrapping up my second grad class but after this I will be transferring to another more secular institution. Liberty does have good tuition rates but I would be very leery about enrolling here if you aren't so pious and are looking for more organization.

I liked Liberty University at first. They pull you in with the Christian school environment and Christ Centered classes. Each professor is different in my Doctoral program for Counseling. My first class group counseling was wonderful and I passed with a grade of A. My current class has a professor that immediately referred me for misconduct to my paper not cited correctly on APA. She referred me to Academic misconduct and I had to appeal the decision. The crazy thing is all she had to do was just... Read More talk to me about the problem and give me some advice. Nope and I felt like this don'take no sense. Where is the Christian grace and mercy this is was my second class. There was no concern about me and the professor did not reach out to me to help. I did tell her that I needed help with APA format It is just crazy. I agree with other reviews if you don't agree to the Biblical views or opinions don't match the professor they will take points off. I got 153 points off out of 200 points on one paper. I seen other peers that talked about what the professor liked more. I can only assume they got good grades.

I find this school to be a joke. They try too hard to apply the Bible to the lectures that sometimes is not even relevant and you get points deducted if you can't relate. The professors I had graded me upon their agreement or disagreement to my thoughts on the discussion questions, which does not seem fair just because we had different views and opinions on the topic. Also, when reaching out with questions, it was hard to reach the professors and it cuts down on my time to get the help I want to... Read More complete an assignment. So I don't recommend this school unless you are up to getting a failing grade for having different opinions as your professor.

Check each and every course for prerequisites before you commit. They advertise 60-hour doctoral degrees for under $40K but it is not what it appears to be... too good to be true. In my scenario, I needed to take 7 more classes as prerequisites (38% more classes than advertised to complete the degree - giving the University an extra $14K in tuition revenue). I had the appropriate bachelor's and master's going into the program, yet still needed more. They don't tell you about these extra requirements... Read More - you have to figure it out by yourself when you are registering for classes, typically about a third of the way through the program, and already heavily financially invested. Don't be caught by surprise.

Sadly Liberty University Online is subpar of what I would consider quality education. Liberty University Online is practically a self study school where you will receive practically zero instruction and will never be able to see any lectures or even any pre recorded videos other than their stupid YouTube videos they will link. And their professors are some of the worst I've ever seen. They are super unclear with their instructions and their formatting even if you do exactly what the Liberty site... Read More has for their formatting templates. I have absolutely hated every moment at this school and am transferring. Sadly my GPA started to plummet because the school enforces you to put religion into every single assignment and has ruined the true goals in classes. Please whatever you do stay as far away from this school as possible. The quality of education is nowhere near the price that you are charged for this place. They will sell you on it and they accept anyone that has a pulse. The advisors are some of the worst you will see and they are nearly robots and will respond and act the same way as the last. There's a reason the reviews on this site are so awful and if you look up any thing on this school any degrees from this school are a joke and are laughed at. Please save yourself some time and just go to your community college and transfer to a REAL institution that will truly give you your money's worth and give you a quality education. Stay as far away from this joke of an institution, they truly don't deserve to be in business.

An honest review, from a very honest person. I have had both good and bad experiences here at Liberty, and all of the bad experiences honestly are with the graduate level professors. The academic advisors and financial aid offices have been professional and respectful each time I've engaged in conversation with them, and frankly, they are far more honest with me than the majority of my previous and present professors have ever been. One big negative experience is that even when you follow the APA... Read More format, follow the professional APA format, or you utilize the APA/Professional APA Template document (where you just edit the title page and then type your paper, as it's properly formatted for you), the majority of graduate professors will state that you made multiple APA format errors on your discussion board posts, on your discussion board responses to other students, or worse, in your research papers and presentations. I utilize the professional APA template that Liberty provides, and I have worked with a few professors on perfecting the professional APA format in previous classes - with the few professors who cared enough to want to teach and help us students - and I made full points on their assignments once all corrections were made - yet other professors are out right rude, disrespectful, condescending, and act like it's an inconvenience that they have to help any student on any academic level by clarifying where the student has gone wrong with formatting - and GOD forbid they have to specifically state where you went wrong, the mistreatment from professors gets real bad. No two professors can seem to agree on what the APA format and Professional APA format does and does not contain, should and should not look like, etc. I've only had two professors in several years actually tell me when the formatting was properly executed, and they gave very detailed and helpful feedback. That's it. Otherwise, folks, you'll be stuck relying on the tutoring centers, writing centers, or heck, hiring your own tutor to review your papers, and even then, when the remarks come in that you messed up the formatting when you know you didn't, the frustration will spike your stress and anxiety. Another negative, the majority of professors I have had, have no respect for emergencies or life situations that present themselves that we as human beings have no control over. You can provide medical documents, legal documents, they DO NOT CARE, yet if it were their kid, or their pastor, I promise you, they would bend over backward to give them accommodations and extensions. I've only had three professors out of over a dozen understand that life circumstances and emergencies happen that we do not control, and as a blessing, they gave appropriate extensions, and I properly thanked them for that and ensured the work got done. Thirdly, another issue you'll encounter (if you're still reading this), is that if your perspectives, opinions, research, or paper topics do not (professionally or personal) align with the professor's "faith" and "beliefs", THEY WILL DING YOU ON YOUR GRADE BECAUSE OF IT. Also, if you are not comfortable with incorporating a biblical worldview perspective for every type of assignment for every class, well, you'll get frustrated quickly -- and FYI, they expect biblical worldview perspectives in your response posts to your peers' posts in your classes but fail to mention this is an actual requirement. The professors expect you to be mined readers. And when they mean biblical perspective, they expect it to have the tone of preaching, conversion, or proselytizing, which those three things are no more appropriate for the classroom than they are appropriate for meddling in politics and law. Liberty and its leadership and professors have long ago lost track of what it means to be Christian, just as the majority if not all Christian churches have long ago forgotten that as well. This university just wants your money, and they expect you to take the mistreatment from professors, and believe me, you can file as many complaints against a professor as you want, this university will sooner protect these professors then every discipline them or fire them for how they treat their students. Look for a place to transfer, as I know I will be doing just that.

Please note - you are required to integrate the school's Christian perspective into every class/assignment or suffer point deductions (at least in my masters and doctoral work). In my clinical mental health masters, one professor required me to present to the class or fail the semester (in my practicum) while I sat next to my three year old while she was in a hospital bed. It was unreal. I notified her of the hospitalization several days before my presentation was due (five days) and she said I would... Read More need to present, find someone else to present, or fail. I remained at the school because I was nearing graduation of my master's degree and because of the cheap cost. I tried once more to see if the doctoral program would be better - I am transferring out of my doctoral program. In my doctoral program I asked for assistance understanding an assignment (I said I was having trouble understanding parts of the assignment and despite reading the rubric and the instructions felt confused) and the professor copied and pasted the instructions into his email response to me. He did not offer additional help.

I was happy I got my master's in professional writing, but when I tried to get my masters in creative writing, I had many issues with this college. So many bad professors need to teach P.H.D. classes, not graduate level classes, and staff, including the Dean from the English Department. Many students are just as bad as the staff of this class. This school's policies are unfair and need to change so it can be beneficial for everyone. This school abusing their policies to everyone including me. This... Read More school does not represent a Christian school. This school is more of a political school, not a Christian college. I will get my master's degree in creative writing at a better college with better staff than Liberty University. I am never returning to Liberty University in the future. I advise students not to attend this college to get a degree in any major. It is best to go somewhere else. This school needs to be shut down for good.

I earned a BA from a large state university, an MA from a medium-sized state university, and an MS from a certain private aeronautical university so when I began my PhD at Liberty, I had some perspective. People tend to not understand that a PhD is a research/science degree and if they haven't written a master's thesis, the dissertation is probably going to seem overwhelming and not what they expected. The thing about graduate school research is that you want to graduate; solve world hunger later.... Read More Enter the program knowing what you want to study, and write all of your papers in hour courses on that topic so by the tine you reach the dissertation phase, you have your background ready to go, and your lit review will be a breeze to write. Make sure your data is realistic to gather, and that you are able to defend your chosen methods. I knew what I was getting myself into because I had written a master's thesis and I watched my husband go through a traditional PhD program. Thankfully, I finished on time. I comment Liberty for giving everyone a chance, but one of the downsides to that is they admit pretty much anyone, even if they probably are not prepared for a doctorate degree. One of my fellow students once said in a discussion board post, "I don't really like research, so I am not sure what to study." Clearly, this woman did not understand what a PhD is. Again, it is literally a research degree. I am not sure why you'd apply for such a program if you do not like research. Anyway, the school is not liberal... I would actually call it a-political, so I learned actual subject matter rather than being constantly beat over the head with propaganda. It was nice. Yes, the school is Christian, but it is balanced; it is accredited by the same regional body as every other school, so they are required to meet certain standards. Rigor-wise, it was actually pretty much exactly the same as every other school I've attended, though I would actually disagree with others, in that there was not a whole lot of busy work. It definitely kept me busy though, and that quantitative stats class is probably the program's biggest weed-out class (it was brutal... really...). I actually really enjoyed my program and the Christian aspect was an added bonus; it was good for my testimony, and also for my intellectual growth. That said, I don't think it is for everyone. The truth is that we are all made for a purpose. Not everyone is a good fit for a university degree or even a graduate degree and that is totally fine. Additionally, some people are put off by religion. Liberty might bother you. Do your homework on everything so you understand what you're getting into. But yeah, it was probably the best education experience I have ever had. Good luck to you.

Notice the rating is 3 stars. That’s because there is a lot of bots/fluff with these 5 stars. If you’re thinking about this school, I highly suggest looking at the negatives first. They give insight to how “Godly” this school really is. If your life isn’t fixed, and you feel like some random emergency might cause you to withdraw early, just don’t take this program. Liberty University only cares about the money. I went there residentially for undergrad and had to do online for the master’s because... Read More of Covid. A family emergency along with hospital visits forced me to withdraw because I had ti take care of my parents. Emailed my professors, let them know what was up. They were all very understanding and I withdrew. I put in my withdrawal with my reasonings being immediate family emergency. It was 2020, going to the hospital started to be a common phenomenon. I was only 2 weeks into the course. Later on I got a call from the financial department saying that since I didn’t stay they sent back my financial aid. I owe them $5000. Why would I pay the price of the full course if I didn’t take the full course? A percentage is understandable but they told me I had to pay for the full course. Then the financial aid guy told me that was because I didn’t withdraw at the right time. I should just go back and register to get the financial aid back. So I registered for different courses. I was going to stick through the program just so I didn’t have to pay for a semester I barely started. I was actively looking for work because I lost my job due to Covid and the care act stopped, so I wasn’t getting anymore money, but wanted to try and finish while being preoccupied with taking care of parents and looking for work. When I looked at the course work for the graduate Psychology and Christianity course it looked familiar. I took that class residentially as an undergrad. I pulled up my old syllabus and compared it to the graduate on. It’s the same syllabus WORD FOR WORD with a different font. All the coursework is the same. Including all the papers. Liberty…. You know better. Why am I taking a class I already took. The only difference was instead of 2 textbooks you apparently need 3. Which I didn’t even bother because if the assignments are the same (I even checked all the assignments rubrics and instructions and they are identical to the undergrad work) why would I need a 3rd textbook if I didn’t need it in undergrad. I even got points off during a test because they didn’t agree with my idea of “evolution.” That was the final straw. I had to pay for the courses I withdrew. I had to take the same course with the same assignments. (And we all know you can resubmit assignments because it’s plagiarisms) and I’m getting points taken off because I didn’t disagree with evolution? I left during the withdraw time. Also Liberty University didn’t accept my reasonings for withdraw. They don’t accept any documents that aren’t professionally made with wet sign. I told them the financial aid person told me to reapply just to get my financial aid back and they said they can’t corroborate my claim because “Liberty university employees don’t count as third party.” Oh so y’all covering y’all ***. I have the medical reason for leaving the first time, but they want a reason for why I reapply and when I tell them and show email documents all they say in response is “we don’t accept that and you didn’t thoroughly explain the circumstances.” So the committee can’t read?

I think the program started off well. Everything is easy to navigate and appreciated the digital textbooks for each class. Later on, there were courses that would’ve benefitted from instructions from professors once in a while. Assignments and applications for final projects lacked clarity or tutorials of what to even do. If I had to choose this school,again, I’d probably choose a different major, probably something religious based. But for a technical major, I would’ve chosen another school. Maybe... Read More the residential experience is different than online courses. Maybe letting the online courses see the residential classes in video is could’ve been added.