I have been a UMUC student for 2.5 years now. I started my education at a main stream college and then kind of lost my way. I have had some great educational experiences here at UMUC. My main complaint with UMUC is the disorganization among their administration. I live in MD! I should be able to get a hold of someone to give me a straight answer on what classes I need to take in order to graduate. I have been told several times now several different things concerning what I need in order to graduate. I was supposed to be done May of this year, and then I found out I needed 12 more credits. I then went to work trying to complete these credits over the Summer. I thought I would be done on August 18th of this year. I found out this morning that I need yet another class. I am supposed to start Graduate school this Fall (not at UMUC). If I am not done with my classes by August then I have to defer for a year! I have already paid a nonrefundable acceptance fee to this graduate school. Moreover, I just want to be done with my undergraduate degree. I will have enough (120) credits by the end of the Summer. How can these people just lie to adults about their futures???

I graduated from UMUC with my very well earned B.S.  I have taken both face-to-face and online classes.  I was challenged at all times and felt all my instructors were very knowledgeable.  UMUC worked with me every step of the way using Tuition Assistance.  I did not have an issue and have recommended UMUC to others.

Great School.

I've taken three classes at UMUC - one face-to-face and two on-line. The face-to-face class was good, and one of the online classes I'd classify as average. The professor in the second on-line class was negligent beyond belief. One month into the class, no one heard from her for three weeks, and students were forced to contact the department to get some action. She finally re-surfaced, only to supply the briefest answers to our questions (if at all). Homework wasn't graded, we just received a pass/fail if we submitted it, so how were we supposed to know whether we were doing the problems right? Two questions on the final didn't have the correct answer among any of the answer choices. It was a department created test, so I can't blame the professor, but really... what kind of shoddy school is this that they can't get the answers right on a 25-question test?

Let me also mention that I've lived in Maryland for SIX years, paid property and income taxes and owned a house here for all that time, work in MD, have all my accounts in MD, have my dog licensed in Maryland, etc. Yet my residency status is still under question (and still not resolved after 5 months with the residency committee) because I owned a car that was registered in VA last year. It would be like saying because I own a vacation home in California I don't reside in MD....

Fortunately for me, there are plenty of schools in my area, I don't need to put up with this type of crap.

I have taken seven hours with UMUC, which isn't a lot, but I have had no problems. My instructors have been professional and well educated, and the course work was far more challenging than I had expected. Enrolling, ordering books, and viewing my grades online is easy. I recommend this school to anyone, especially people who are working adults, or military families. UMUC offers a flexible, quality education which helps in both of the mentioned circumstances.

UMUC distance education is outstanding. Almost all of the classes have been exciting and taught well by the professors. The customer service has improved a lot as well. There is a great difference between the European Division of UMUC and the stateside one. Most of the negatvie comments are coming from overseas military members who are taking classes FTF or online in the European and Asian divisions. Avoid those overseas divisions and stick with the stateside version (whether distance or FTF) and you will be well rewarded.

I've had a great experience at UMUC. Being a military member, the online classes take away the stress of full time job and F2F classes. I didn't experience any bad customer service and was very pleased with practor exams which I had to take while I was deployed. Online classes are indepth and the quality of the education is very good.

I took classes for a year at UMUC Online. The teachers were awesome. The best i have experienced in online classes. The financial aid office was always messing things up though, and the amount of work involved in some of the classes was well above what i have experienced elsewhere, even in the regular classroom setting.

Hey guys, you can't expect DE to perfectly resemble a classroom setting. I had my share of complains while I was working on my BA with UMUC DE because their are not perfect, but here I am, on my second year at Texas University working on my MA in Asian Studies, and doing fairly well.

UMUC's quality of education plummeted faster than Enron stock. One reason was that UMUC's key administrators weren't paying attention. There are numerous complaints lately that UMUC is tapping teachers to teach courses outside their area of expertise and without a credential in the assigned field. For example, there is an anthropology teacher who also teaches biology, IFSM, psychology, and sociology. There is a teacher of African American history under fire because his experience in that field is questionable. English teachers are called upon to instruct speech as well as philospohy, and maybe math. Government teachers are assigned history courses too. And most of the psychologists are assigned sociology, because everyone knows it's practically the same thing. UMUC saves money by assigning 3 or 4 subjects to one teacher. As a student though we should know the competence and experience of the persons assigned to teach our classes. UMUC is also taking flak because their teachers are older, out-of-touch with developments in their field of instruction, not representing the diversity of the student population UMUC serves and unable to find work at other colleges (which is why they're at UMUC). In a related incident in DE PSYCH 436 Introduction to Clinical Psychology upper-level undergraduate students learned from another teacher that their clinical psychology teacher, M. Sadler, had a degree in psychology but also that his license to practice had been revoked for unprofessional and unethical conduct. What message does that send enthusiastic students looking forward to a career in psychology? UMUC provided really good qaulity education until about 5 years ago. The administrators need to know why and how the wheels came off. They also need to know how to get and keep good teachers and stop highly qualified teachers from leaving for more money and better working conditions.

I was really disappointed with the UMUC experience, both face-to-face and online. There weren't many upper level F2F courses offered by UMUC in our location. UMUC administrators tended to supply larger communities with more choices of F2F courses. The equipment used in our courses was often out-of-date, as was the instructor. The course texts were too basic, and for intro level students, I expected something more challenging form the UMUC experience. There is no student community because UMUC is for career oriented people. That means, it's about taking course to get a quick degree to move up the corporate ladder, and going home right after class. There isn't much emphasis on literature or art or others soft subjects, so meeting people with those interests is even more difficult. It doesn't help that the faculty and administration deliberately spies on students in student groups, plants information in the groups, and seeks to destroy the student groups when the messges get to negative about UMUC. That is what UMUC's general cousnel did to a Yahoo!-based student group. They are doing it again to other web-based student groups now. There is in fact some truth to the rumor that administrators have been loose with student private identification information, and that it has been published on the internet. There is also truth to rumors that there have been out of court settlements for wronful dismissals of UMUC employees, and EEOC complaints. You have to know who to talk to or where to dig for that info, but it's there to be found. I thought the courses would be more challenging, but because anyone can enroll in a course, the instructors have to dumb it down so everyone can enjoy. I also don't like the fact that UMUC assigns instructors across multiple fiel;ds, outisde their departments to teach courses. The end result is that we get instructors filling in for courses that ned to be taught, but who have less experience that someone normally tecahing that kind of course. Anyone can teach anything at UMUC seems to be the policy. As colleges go, sorry UMUC just doesn't rate very well. Tell yourself what you like, but it just doesn't meet the high standards expected at other universities. It's a quick degree for people who need one to claw there way to the top of a civil service-type job.

I'm a student at UMUC taking online classes. My experience has been good but I've been frustrated by the lack of on online forum for students outside of class. I've taken it upon myself to create one at http://www.umucReview.com This spring the site will have been up for a year. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

I attended UMUC both in class and online for my undergraduate degree, and now, after a few years off, am back into a graduate degree. Although I have read many of the comments posted on this site regarding poor customer service, etc, overall I have found the quality of the courses and material to be outstanding. I too had to experience long lines, etc, when I was attempting to register for courses when I was overseas; however, that was due to the demand for the courses and the attendance of students in those programs. I found many times the long lines were due in part to the schedules that many of us active-duty types had to keep, leaving very little free time to make it to register at a time when the traffic was negligible. As I mentioned above, I am in the graduate program, online, and am able to do everything that I need in order to register, order books, and attending online. I have found much of the curriculum to be very challenging, and particularly appreciate the new MyUMUC portal. Look carefully at the online universities and I think you will find that UMUC ranks as one of the top cyber universities around as recognized by Forbes repeatedly. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=FORBES+umuc+be st+of+the+web

What a waste of money! The field reps (some-most) are rude and don't want to do their jobs. Even for DE you still have to go stand in line for an hour or so to register for your classes. Isn't this DE, DISTANCE education? I've taken 4 proctored exams. 1 of them was never sent and 1 was missing an entire page when received by the instructor. Often you have no idea what your final grade is for a course because of these pitfalls until well into the next semester. That can be rather depressing. Don't even bother emailing the administration. They won't respond. UMUC brags how they cut breaks financially for military. Their tuition is as high if not higher than that of a resident state universities. Go to a real DE University, I am as soon as I find one that I like. UMUC should be ashamed of themselves for even calling themselves a university.

Great insight! Thanks

I'm sorry to read about any student's bad class experience, and online education always involves some trade-offs. Faculty at nontraditional universities are typically paid part-time wages, so it's hard to retain top quality classroom or online/distance education (DE) instructors unless they have a full-time job elsewhere. Classes with low enrollments typically dry up because neither faculty members nor colleges can depend on them for revenue. Despite these realities, I expected to see UMUC rated at or near the top, not the bottom, of your DE list. Years ago, I took three courses from UMUC in Maryland. Two were excellent and one was good compared to traditional coursework I completed at an Ivy League college and a top-ranked state university graduate program. Since 2002, I've also taught online courses for UMUC/stateside as an adjunct professor. In contrast to some reviewers, I've found UMUC stateside (US) standards higher than expected. My UMUC students are generally well prepared because prerequisites, anti-plagiarism policies, and competitive grading are now enforced more uniformly. A small percentage of students have deficient skills or indifferent attitudes, but most are talented and actively engaged in their work. What about the the administrators and faculty? Most (not all) of the administrators and faculty members I've encountered at UMUC meetings are impressive and enthusiastic about their work, although some faculty members complain about their heavy workload, administrative duties, and low pay. Still many national award-winning professors with top degrees and experience teach at UMUC. Every online faculty member is required to complete a rigorous online training course before being allowed to teach. New faculty members are also assigned mentors, who track their first semester course, offer support, and write a detailed evaluation report. Each semester, UMUC courses are monitored for instructional quality, interactivity with students, high grading standards, and timely comments. The curriculum is regularly reviewed and revised. The rigorous qualifications, professional development programs, and administrative reviews show UMUC's seriousness about maintaining high standards. To help improve my own courses, I sometimes poll my students informally about their experience at UMUC and other online colleges. Although they have praised some of their online courses elsewhere, typically DE students prefer the quality of instruction, attention from professors, adminstrative support, and resources at UMUC. I'm delighted that former students have also earned promotions and better jobs because of their UMUC degrees.

Ouch! Some pretty harsh comments posted here, not all unwarranted. As a current student UMUC-Europe, I can confirm that not all comments posted here are loaded, but I must say, many are. Does anyone really buy that the Director is posting “student's names, social security account numbers, and addresses on the World Wide Web”. If you do, try checking that claim. I doubt you’ll find much to back it up; I tried and failed. But, as I mentioned, many claims posted here have sustenance. Sometimes, the books assigned to a course are sub par (and I stress SOMTIMES), grades for some courses come in slowly (really annoying), and “in-class” courses get canceled often (in Europe). But some of these issues are very easily explained (even justified) if one takes the time to think about, as one post asked, “what is UMUC doing in Europe”? Well, they are there serving the military community with scattered all about Europe and the Middle East. You see, UMUC has a contract with the Department of Defense to educate the military community stationed overseas. Someone has to provide for the education of military members and their families while stationed overseas. It is the Department of Defense that dictates what kind of programs can be offered to their community overseas. In fact, it is the DOD that pretty much runs the show. Now, To conduct an in-class course (Face-to-face), there has to be enough people registered in that class to carry it on, and if there is not, well, the class gets canceled and field representatives try to encourage students to take distance learning courses (that never get canceled) in lieu. With bases closing, and more and more of our soldiers being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan etc.. (and their wives and children going back to the States), enrollment (in-class) is falling and classes are being canceled. I also here a lot of complaints directed at the faculty and staff at UMUC-ED. Just a short insider bit of info I got from a friend that works there: UMUC-Europe employees get paid roughly half of what their counterparts in the states get paid AND, given that they are much less resourced, do twice the work. I would assume that is a factor in their oftentimes less-than-sunny dispositions. To put in my two cents of the University, I’ll say this: I have done my research, and for what it is (an institution catering to the military community, ..and think about what that means), UMUC does a great job providing education for military members stationed overseas. Yes, things could be done better, but I guarantee that it is the BEST University with a home-base overseas if only for it’s broad range of programs (in comparison), it’s quality of education, and it’s flexibility. I graduated with a B.S. from a great University in the States, so I like to think I know what good instruction is. UMUC-ED may not live up to my previous institutions academic standards, but you know what, I think to think that you get what you give. Just a few cents from a UMUC-ED student.

Ouch! Some pretty harsh comments posted here, not all unwarranted. As a current student UMUC-Europe, I can confirm that not all comments posted here are loaded, but I must say, many are. Does anyone really buy that the Director is posting “student's names, social security account numbers, and addresses on the World Wide Web”. If you do, try checking that claim. I doubt you’ll find much to back it up; I tried and failed. But, as I mentioned, many claims posted here have sustenance. Sometimes, the books assigned to a course are sub par (and I stress SOMTIMES), grades for some courses come in slowly (really annoying), and “in-class” courses get canceled often (in Europe). But some of these issues are very easily explained (even justified) if one takes the time to think about, as one post asked, “what is UMUC doing in Europe”? Well, they are there serving the military community with scattered all about Europe and the Middle East. You see, UMUC has a contract with the Department of Defense to educate the military community stationed overseas. Someone has to provide for the education of military members and their families while stationed overseas. It is the Department of Defense that dictates what kind of programs can be offered to their community overseas. In fact, it is the DOD that pretty much runs the show. Now, To conduct an in-class course (Face-to-face), there has to be enough people registered in that class to carry it on, and if there is not, well, the class gets canceled and field representatives try to encourage students to take distance learning courses (that never get canceled) in lieu. With bases closing, and more and more of our soldiers being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan etc.. (and their wives and children going back to the States), enrollment (in-class) is falling and classes are being canceled. I also here a lot of complaints directed at the faculty and staff at UMUC-ED. Just a short insider bit of info I got from a friend that works there: UMUC-Europe employees get paid roughly half of what their counterparts in the states get paid AND, given that they are much less resourced, do twice the work. I would assume that is a factor in their oftentimes less-than-sunny dispositions. To put in my two cents of the University, I’ll say this: I have done my research, and for what it is (an institution catering to the military community, ..and think about what that means), UMUC does a great job providing education for military members stationed overseas. Yes, things could be done better, but I guarantee that it is the BEST University with a home-base overseas if only for it’s broad range of programs (in comparison), it’s quality of education, and it’s flexibility. I graduated with a B.S. from a great University in the States, so I like to think I know what good instruction is. UMUC-ED may not live up to my previous institutions academic standards, but you know what, I think to think that you get what you give. Just a few cents from a UMUC-ED student.

I am a freshman at UMUC planning to get a Legal Studies degree. Research led me to AAFPE (American Association for Paralegal Education) and UMUC has met their standards. It was unfortunate that I found such bad reviews AFTER registration and was very concerned about quality. I'm glad to say that my courses (so far) have proven to be challenging, full of participation (I take online classes), and at an overall collegiate level. I live in Maryland and could've easily chosen the classroom setting but DE courses allowed more flexibility. I agree with other posts that no one should be forced in that direction, but don't think for a second that it's the "easy" way out. Some people have withdrawn from online courses because it requires much more than they expected. My rating is three since this is just my first semester. But problems have been rare. If you have checked around and UMUC keeps looking like an option--don't be scared to try it. I can't say if it will meet your individual expectations, but I can say that it has not failed mine. (We all know that this ain't Harvard)

My Master's in Information Technology at UMUC stings as one of the great bad investments of my life. The whole experience was so utterly fraudulent on so many levels. But I was already invested in the third semester before I could no longer dismiss as flukes my astoundingly incompetent or apathetic professors. Egregious plagiarism was the name of the game: Professors regularly regurgitate curricula and lectures from prior semesters. Students merely copy and paste discussion threads into their own submissions, knowing their instructors award grades based on automated metrics like word count. Power Point is considered an acceptable format for term papers! No thesis required for a Masters degree. And the anonymity of online study, already a huge obstacle to an edifying experience, is I believe actively promoted by UMUC for the simple reason that its impossible to criticize when you cant organize. I recall one class in which our instructor logged in (and this is not an exaggeration) twice during the semester: once to greet everyone and once to collect our final exams. Four or five of us managed to overcome the anonymity of our chat rooms to take action: a formal letter to the administration which went totally unanswered. I guess what I find most depressing is the thought of people pursuing their undergraduate degrees at UMUC. Having gone to a traditional University for my Bachelor's, I simply cannot imagine a graduate of UMUC's Web Tycho interface having experienced anything substantive. And it may sound elitist, but it just seems depressing to think of tens of thousands (a href=http://www.umuc.edu/ip/umucfacts_02.html) of people walking around, thinking they've learned anything more than how to manipulate a web interface. That UMUC is accredited raises some serious questions about the state of academia and the trend towards distance education. And I do suspect that these problems are not unique to UMUC. High-bandwidth distance education, through which real bonds, expectations and communication can take place, might work some day. But the current state of distance education is just too shallow, but promoted by an educational system too strapped for cash and a community of working adults, too strapped for time. UMUC's WebTycho interface is at best a pretend classroom with a few clever javascripts and java applets to entertain you while you wait months for feedback on that paper you're now starting to feel embarrassed for having taken so seriously. You'll learn though, and by the end of your program, you'll find you needn't even bother buying the textbooks and you can get by with a couple manic hours of copying and pasting once or twice a semester. Had an interview recently in which my interviewer said: UMUC, yeah - I've heard of them. I see their ads on the metro all the time. -but, I mean, is that even a real degree? Have noticed some others here are giving UMUC 4 or 5 stars - Don't believe them: This is a case of the Emperor's New Clothes if ever there was one! I don't even bother to list it on my resume anymore. (http://www.epinions.com/content_145499459204)

This College was paid $2 million dollars by Household International, a predatory lender, to add a website that encourages debt among service members, and seems to disregard the Soldiers and Sailors Act which provides temporary relief to active duty service members. Household's parent HSBC is linked to a bank owned by the former-regime of Saddam Hussein. The bank relationship is being investigated for money laundering. UMUC seems to have disregarded this information, took the $2 million, and turned the other way. It is unconscionable that UMUC is supposed to provide higher education to military personnel and, at the same time, is in partnership with a predatory lender that often mishandles payments, records, and disregards the law. UMUC should be blacklisted from US installations and banned from taxayer contracts handed out by the Department of Defense and the US Army, until it ceases its relationship with Household International. It looks again like UMUC will do anything for money, even profiteering off soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

UMUC Online and UMUC in Europe have a lot of problems with providing F2F and online education courses, judging from the many student ratings here, on thecomplaintstation, and from internal UMUC docs posted to UMUCDE@yahoogroups.com. I'd say there's a lot of student disenchantment with UMUC courses and programs, and UMUC administration. It looks like UMUC could use a housecleaner for ineffective workers, and get in touch with the students who have posted their suggestions. All the low ratings of UMUC F2F courses, online programs, and administration in Europe have got to be hurting business. BTW, UMUC's hushing the student group wasn't a very cool thing to do. I guess they deserve the low ratings.

For a program that serves a lot of military personnel, I didn't find degree programs that supported my military career. Telephone calls and e-mail to Maryland personnel were not responded to. That telephone just rang and rang and rang. Other universities offered better choices in terms of majors, and transfer credit for military personnel. So, eventually I went with another program. I think one can only suck it up and drive on for so long before getting fed up and moving on. Sorry UMUC, you don't provide quality services for the money you expect.

What is UMUC's point in Europe? I surveyed the courses that start on Monday 23 AUG, and found many canceled, 1/3 to 2/3 at Army posts canceled or remain pending, while at Ramstein and Spang more are marked as'Go. Some posts have no courses marked 'Go'. Further, what is the point of a UMUC brochure listing courses, when they don't offer many new courses, or only a fraction of those listed in the brochure. It's the same courses, and the same professors adding little new to what they said last year, or the year before. It's the same planners in Heidelberg too. They say if you don't like what they offer go to DE. That's not a helpful solution. Nothing against DE for thoe who want it, but I'd like a classroom learning experience. I think both Army and Air Force folks here in Europe want better from the planners in Heidelberg (who probably should retire to make wayfor more innovative management). That's what people say here, and even the local ESO agrees. Get with it UMUC. You make a lot of money off of us, so start giving back some quality. And, by the way, the Army needs to get over the eArmy thing. Like UMUC, eArmy too seems like such a scam.

Hello. There are too many complaints about both UMUC online, and the class-based program in Europe. The Field Reps and Area Directors promise class-based courses, then try and shift you to the online program when real classes cancel. The books assigned for all courses in the social sciences are chosen by one person, the Social Sciences Director, and they're really bad books for the amount of money spent. Some of the professors have been teaching the same material for decades, so there is no real new information in the courses. The Director, Area Directors, Program Directors, and Field Reps (top to bottom) are not easy to get in touch with, either by telephone or email. Forget, snailmail! In Europe, these people rake the money in, keep their jobs, and ignore students. There are many more serious complaints listed on thecomplaintstation.com. Research this school before doing it. Then, Just say NO' to UMUC. CB

I'm going to Valdosta U in GA. Your courses get called off too many times. I don't know how those 52 admirals and generals yu all brag about ever got a UMUC degree since your courses get called off so often. Oh yeah, I wasn't too crazy about the quality of your professors. UMUC was much better 3 or 4 year ago, but those people have moved on to better lives, better jobs, or whatever. My last UMUC course did not meet the course description and goals, and it was a second choice bcause the first choice got called off. I don't want to take your DE courses, and don't like being pushed in that direction. See you in Valdosta! My friends say it's pretty good there. Steve, Germany.

Avoid psychology with Palm-Jones and sociology with Armstrong. I read Michael Moore's books and saw his films, and enjoyed them very much for the social commentary he made. However, they were not required materials or part of the course description. Standing on a soapbox and preaching to a capitive audience about them was done in a way that did not relate to the course. Also, I deeply respect the Muslim faith, but the assertion that it is superior to other faiths seemed unbalanced. The indiscreet comments about the Army and soldiers were hurtful. Without the Army contract the UMUC instructors would not have jobs. We did not deserve to be attacked on 9-11, and nobody in the world deserves to die in such a way...anywhere in the world. This kind of quality of instruction, and course materials, seems too common at UMUC. I think some sensitivity training might be useful in some cases.