Colorado State University Global

I attened CSU-Global for both my undergrad (IT) and grad (PM) degrees. I completed both in 3 years (stacked courses and went year-round). A lot of the feedback on here talks about "self-taught", but it's an online course. It should be understood that online courses limit interaction. However, almost all of my instructors were responsive to emails, phone calls, and even set up video chat options. They replied to every student discussion forum and made specific comments to each student. Papers were... Read More heavily critiqued and carried a lot of weight in the grading scale. I would say that some of these reviews are skewed because people didn't get what they expected (i.e. networking opportunities). But again, it's an online course, you have to make the most out of it. Anyone thinking CSU-G degrees are useless, I make six figures as a direct result of my degrees. You truly have to put forth more effort, but if you do, it's worth it. I have the same education as anyone going to a traditional in-person school.

Before I started at CSU Global, I read many reviews on different sites. The reviews were mostly positive, but I remember one that called CSU Global a degree factory. Having completed by BS in Business Management last year, I must agree. But is that such a terrible thing? You still must work to earn the degree, and I did learn quite a bit...but at the end of it all, I just wanted that expensive piece of paper and notation on my resume/LinkedIn. These days, bachelor’s degrees are really a basic requirement... Read More and check-off for a lot of jobs. Most recruiters that I have spoken to, do not put much weight on where or how you earned a bachelor’s degree, they just look to see if you have one. Some recruiters have indicated that they like to see a remote learner for a remote job as it shows that candidate proved their ability to be self-motivated and hard working. CSU Global Pros: *100% online-you never have to set foot on a campus. Since CSU Global is primarily for us non-traditional students with jobs, families etc, this is invaluable. *Courses are 8-week terms rather than traditional 16-week semesters; this saves a lot of time. *Fully accredited and part of the Colorado State University system. It is not-for-profit and is respected. *Same tuition for in state and out-of-state learners. Most other online, non-profit schools charge out-of-state tuition. Additionally, your tuition rate is locked-in and will not increase during your degree-seeking (provided you are enrolled with no significant breaks). *Up to 90 credit hours can be transferred in. I transferred my associates degree (of which most of the 60 credits were accepted) and I completed 10 elective courses (30 credits) alternatively at Sophia.org and 1 elective course (1 credit) at Study.com. This saved me time and money. Note though that if you go this route, the alternative credits are unlikely to count at most traditional schools. So only do this if you plan on graduating from CSU Global or anther online school which accepts alternative credits. I earned these 31 credits in about 4 months’ time and for about $500.00. Compare that to traditional school: these credits would have taken an entire academic year and cost over $15,000. *Online library, tech support and free (or rather, included with tuition) tutoring. I found myself needing this for a statistics course and it really was helpful. *You are assigned a success counselor who reaches out to you, offers suggestions, and can help with planning. I found them to be helpful and available. Try getting that kind of help at a big, on-campus school. Cons: *This is subjective...but I really hate how Colorado State University gives each of its three campuses different school colors, logos, and mascots. There is the real CSU in Fort Collins with the green and cold colors and ram logo. Then there is CSU Pueblo, which used to be University of Southern Colorado, with blue and red colors and lobo mascot. This leaves CSU Global with a completely different logo, red and gold colors, and an eagle mascot. "Who cares?" you may ask. Well, other online schools keep the colors, logos, and mascots the same across all campuses. This adds cohesiveness, connectiveness and adds a bit more intrinsic value to the degree. My diploma reads: "colorado state university SYSTEM." Obviously, I wrote it this way for emphasis...but I HATE that it says "SYSTEM" so blatantly. Why not at least "Colorado State University Global"? But SYSTEM? This gives it a for-profit look and feel, and it also feels a bit like a consolation prize or a cereal box diploma. *Draconian drop period. You have one week to drop a course for full credit (or to not be held responsible for the tuition). The first week of most courses were easy and laid back, so one does not have time to get a feel for how the instructor is or how difficult the course will be. I lost about $1,000 by having to drop after the second week. Most other schools I attended offered a tiered drop period for three weeks. If you drop by week three for instance, 50% refund on tuition. This may be CSU Global's policy for the sake of the policy, but in fairness, as the courses are eight weeks instead of 16, this may be the reason for the short drop period. *Course are proctored by "instructors" rather than professors. These instructors are highly qualified and most hold a Ph.D. I found most to be knowledgeable and accessible while others seemed to just be collecting a paycheck. But you will find this at on-campus schools as well. *Papers. Lots and lots of papers. And you will forever hate three letters for the rest of your life: APA (American Phycological Association) as its format is used for all papers. Because there are few courses with tests, papers which show the student's knowledge of the topics are used. Expect 6-7 papers per course. If you are more of a test-taker, CSU Global is not for you. I believe the pros far outweigh the cons. If you are looking to advance your career or fulfill a goal of obtaining a degree later in life, CSU Global may be for you. You do learn more about your chosen field and earning your degree is an amazing feeling. If you love taking tests or want your degree to be viewed the same as an in-person learner (in terms of going to a school with a recognizable logo), CSU Global may not be your best choice.

Money driven and leadership is completely absent! Try reaching ANYONE in a leadership role to file complaints and you will get nowhere. Read the LinkedIn profile of the CSU Global president.... she talks about being profit driven etc, which is insane. No mention of education as a goal, or connecting with students... or anything that really supports EDUCATION. They literally do not care about success, and you are on your own to figure out all their administrative emails that are sent like spam. Inappropriate... Read More degree plans that do not align, counselor changes and again... no support from any leaders. Overall, they care about one thing... MONEY. I'm surprised and shocked that Colorado State University allows this profit-driven third party to use their name as they are NOT CSU! Don't be fooled and find another program. The material is consistently out of date and some professors regurgitate years-old information, sometimes posting the same content from several years prior!

My experience at CSU-Global has been nothing short of AMAZING!! I graduated with my Bachelor's in Human Resources Management some years back and now enrolled again with them for my Master's degree in Human Resources Management. I have been in the HR field for 15 years and everything that was and has been taught to me coincides with the real life workforce, so you can definitely take the knowledge taught in each course and apply it in the real business world. The professors are so helpful and always... Read More respond in a professional, prompt manner to address any questions that you may have. The weekly discussions are insightful as it give you a chance to engage and build comradery with your peers. Not to mention you can do this while working a full-time job and the fact that the degree is REGIONALLY ACCREDITIED is amazing as your degree has the same value as any other brick and mortar, regionally accredited university. From my personal experience with CSU-Global, I highly recommend and give them a 10/10. You cannot go wrong by choosing them as the university to advance your career by gaining a well-rounded education in your elected field of study.

The schools admissions process is terrible. Staff members are unaware of how to find online transcripts until the student has to threaten to speak to higher ups. Then all of sudden they can find after two weeks of you asking them status updates. Once you get your transcript you have to do a credit appeal because they don’t give you everything you earn. The credit appeal process is a joke. They tell you it will take UP TO TWO WEEKS to finish the review and exactly at the two week mark they inform... Read More you that the credits are now on review. When you email back to ask why it is taking so long you get a generic reply about how there is a high volume of emails so you have to wait 3-5 business days. They take their sweet time getting students transfer credits in the system. It’s ridiculous that they have a whole department dedicated to this and no one can do anything in a timely manner. They definitely need to do an internal audit about what their staff are doing.

Very expensive to just read a book, complete pointless discussions and write papers like crazy. I'm very very disappointed with the format, it seems the content is the same for the past 3-4 years, the interactive literature seems to be created by a high school student and the assignments are ridiculous. In the end you are paying a lot of money to earn a piece of paper. The Master in Project Management is more a undergrad content. I'm an experienced Project manager and I did not learn anything new... Read More I thought I would have different point of view in certain areas of project management and maybe more a strategic side than literature and basic concepts). Also the entire content is based on the PMBOK 6th edition.. and hello... last year PMI issued 7th edition and the classes were not updated to reflect the new content - What is very shameful!! Master degree is to master in a subject, you should validate a thesis, work on scenarios, use simulations, and not write papers after papers that in fact is a summary of that week's class. I'm beyond disappointed with CSU Global!

This degree is nearly 100% self-taught. If you just want the piece of paper, 100% do this program as it is very easy academically, and works great with work schedules. I want to make sure people understand there is ZERO help in getting a job after completion. This is only if you are already in your career and want to help accelerate it. If you are doing a career change, or are not working this degree/university will NOT help you. Absolutely NO job boards, interviews, internships, company connections,... Read More or virtual career fairs, nothing! This school is online, and will have no connections. Its so so important you are already in your career, because this program will not help you in your next job search. That is so important to know before you start this program. This degree felt like a joke, such easy grading, and no lectures. I feel cheated of the actual university learning experience, but at least I got my Masters!

Lots of unpleasant experiences in this school. First off, I've graduated with a major in Business Management with a minor (or specialization as the school calls it), in healthcare management. My GPA was 3.89, which is 0.01 below honors. Avoid this school at all costs if you need financial aid, because they are massively incompetent in that area. They would often neglect to inform the loan services that I was in school, so every couple months I'd have to remind them to do their jobs and inform them... Read More I'm still in school. In addition, since early 2020 I was unemployed but despite this their department refused to ever put me on subsidized loans despite qualifying for them. I was aiming for honors so when I got a B+ unfairly, I disputed it. Despite providing evidence that the professor was grading the paper based on criteria she made up as opposed to the official criteria, my appeal was rejected. As a result of this incompetent professor and equally incompetent appeal department, I was denied honors. Now, onto the positives. People that say you don't learn anything in these classes are simply doing the minimum to get by, so they get nothing out of it. In other words, you get what you put in. If you want to learn and get a lot from this program, you need to put a lot of time in and read all the required and recommended readings, and actually try to do the CT assignments. Overall, I would advise doing a different university as many areas of faculty are incompetent.