2025 Most Affordable Online IT Associate Degrees

When determining whether or not to go back to school I decided to do my research and explore all of my options. I inquired to many different schools, looked at reviews and tons of programs that I feel would be best for me. Now before I go on, I am full time employee with a family and child. The reason I chose online, instead of the conventional "in class", is because I simply don't have the time or energy to go to a classroom after working a 10hour shift. After narrowing my choices down to a few... Read More school, I chose Rasmussen. The recruiter was very friendly, gave me all the information I needed and when I had questions she always called me back within 24hrs. Trust me, I called a lot and asked a ton of questions, sometimes even the same. She didn't come off as annoyed and always responded with respect. Tuition is reasonable. Of course you may save cost if you go to a junior college, but I felt what I wanted to study is what they were offering. I didn't have to complete a bunch of BS classes that are required at some other schools. I did have some college credit which transferred over nicely. My first two classes were business management and intro to software development. My instructor for business was phenomenal. She was engaged and answered all my emails in less than 24hr hours if I had a question. My software development class started off rocky with some technical difficulties from the teacher. The class started almost a week late. I called the office and spoke with the dean. I received a quick response and also received a follow up call once the issue was resolved. We did have to double up work for a week to catch up but that is fine. Problems happen. The teacher apologized for the inconvenience and helped every step of the way, even understanding if an assignment was a day late or so. When I emailed the professor I always received a response back within 24hours. Im taking advanced algebra now followed by object oriented programing. The classes are challenging and despite the one technical difficulty the teachers are very responsive. The work load is challenging, but if you are organized and set aside time you will succeed. If you expect to be hand held, or are lazy you will fail miserably and have a bad time. If you are organized and put effort, you will do just fine. I am hoping to complete my associates in software development and then transfer out to Arizona state or possibly DePaul to get my bachelors. Rasmussen is accredited and their courses do transfer over. They do work directly with Lewis University which is a great school if you wish to transfer. Overall my experience has been pleasant and for a full time working father/husband I couldn't ask for anything more.

I decided to write a review as I have been reading the other reviews and noticed all the bad reviews coming from issues with financial aid or issues that are not with the school at all. I have been attending Rasmussen College online for about a year now and before that I attending Kaplan University Online. Comparing the two I will say that Rasmussen is WAY better than Kaplan. Rasmussen is about $1000 cheaper per term, Kaplan's classes were a joke (for Information Technology at least), and with Kaplan... Read More you didn't learn anything. With Rasmussen I have challenging classes that actually pertain to the field that I am attaining a degree in, and it is cheaper than Kaplan. The people complaining about this school seem to want to have their hands held through life and not take any responsibility for anything. The only thing I can say that I would change is that they should use Pearson's My Math Lab for math courses, but that is just a personal preference for me.

For every poor review I have seen, I can also find a good one to match it. That alone tells me research is necessary for each and every prospective student. I will agree that this university, like most online universities, is not necessarily perfect for everyone, nor every degree. However, my experience, thus far, has been pretty good. I have limitations that put a serious damper on what I can and cannot do. Although not ideal, I searched for a program that would suit my needs. I did not jump into... Read More this decision lightly, which is where I believe many people make their first mistake. I do want to urge everyone reading to please take each and every review with a grain of salt. Sometimes, it is not necessarily the machine, but rather the operator, with the error. It is quite clear both from taking my current courses, as well as reading reviews from current and past students as well, that many are not suited for this kind of learning environment. I do not expect this university or the degrees I obtain to give me the world. I do not expect that everyone will see my degrees and say "hey, let's hire this person on the spot". Just as I would not expect these things from ANY university. No degree, and no university, is going to guarantee you employment. In this country, the unemployment rate is staggering, at best. Do not expect ANY degree to be your magic bean of fortune, it is simply not going to happen. I have had no problems whatsoever with the financial department, thus far. I have had some personal issues with an instructor, and a couple of other students, but isn't that simply how life works? Not everyone is going to see eye to eye, and that includes instructors/professors and students, as well. I am thoroughly enjoying this program, right now. If at some point I feel it is not sufficient, I will do even more research to figure out my options then. For now, I am quite proud of the work I have accomplished, the skills I have learned and the knowledge I have obtained both through working in my courses as well as my own research done on the side. I am quite certain I could probably learn everything I learn in the course of obtaining my degrees, without this university. However that does not present me with a degree, which is most often required in this field. Having a degree does not guarantee employment, but not having a degree will almost always guarantee no employment. The lesser of two evils is what I would go with, personally. For those who cannot attend a brick and mortar university, for whatever reason, an online university is typically a great choice. However, you still need to do your own research to determine which one will be best for you and your situation. No one person can determine what is best for another without walking a mile in their shoes. I actually know of quite a few people, personally, who have taken the same courses I currently am enrolled in, obtained the same degrees I am trying to obtain, and have gainful employment because of them. As I started off this review saying...for every negative review, there is likely at least one positive. Positive word of mouth typically travels far slower than negative word of mouth. When someone has something bad to say, they are more likely to shout it out to the world, than when they have something positive to say. The biggest reason you will not see many positive reviews, is because those of us who make them are often called shills, liars, and a myriad of other negative things as well. Just because we did not have, or are not having, the same experience as some, does not in any way negate the experience we did have, or are having. You are far more likely to be shunned by others, so to speak, when you have something positive to say about this university. Whether or not that is fair, I suppose is up to personal interpretation. However I personally take all reviews with a grain of salt. I can also tell, merely by looking at the grammar and punctuation many people use, that no university would welcome those folks with open arms. Perhaps those people would benefit from going back to school for a little while longer to expand their education before pursuing a degree of any sort. It is very clear even in the courses I am currently taking, that some people are simply not ready for a college level course, regardless of the university from which it is offered. Typos are one thing, everyone makes them now and again, they are excusable. Poor English skills, however, are not easily overlooked by someone like myself, that truly wants to take your word at face value. I cannot take someone who cannot type properly seriously. It tends to drive doubt in my head about the validity of the claims in the reviews.

I have taken classes at UoP on and off over the years (due to personal circumstances) and at first when I started in the Associates Program they called it Axia College. Apparently that is all apart of University of Phoenix now. I must say there are great improvements over the years at University of Phoenix with regards to the quality of materials provided and so far the quality of instructors (knock on wood). I hear this "for profit school's are bad" garbage all the time. Tell me what school is not... Read More for profit? Go to the local community college or state university. Ask for a free college course. Let me know how that works out! Private schools don't get state funding (which helps reduce tuition). Private schools rely on Title IV (federal funding), cash, and tuition reimbursement. Nothing is free folks. And no... I don't work for Apollo Group or University of Phoenix nor do I have any stock invested in Apollo Group or University of Phoenix. No degree, no certification, no brand of school is going to guarantee a job. Each of those items I just listed are tools to better YOU. It's YOU who makes it or breaks it.

Great college, I've had zero issues registering and the advisors are timely and helpful. I've gone to about 6 colleges (military) before I settled with Excelsior. One of the better features that I love with excelsior is the MAPlanner tool. It's an interactive page that tells you exactly how many credits you need in each specific category to complete your degree. The number of credits required is hyperlinked, so if you click it the tool takes you to a page that lists all courses that satisfy that... Read More requirement and you can go seek approval from there. Made my degree planning very easy!!

I have just completed my 2-year degree in the University of Phoenix (November 15th.) All the work has been through online due to factors in life that require me to take care of ailing family members. In total, I have spent $20,691.67 in tuition and "book material" (including $5,000 in federal loans.) Even if you are in the online segment of the campus, they make you pay for materials (being at least $100 dollars per course.) Each class was a little over $1,000 dollars to attend and you had to deal... Read More with two every nine weeks. The overall experience of the online school is slightly above average because of the support from the advisers and being able to work (majority by myself) was a bonus. Luckily, I did not have any team-based work involved in any of my classes; as I hear that people do not get along during those projects. I felt the courses that involved network configurations and security were engaging and allowed me to learn more from those fields; to the point that I am confident in understanding the overall concepts of both. The computer courses did lack a bit because all the topics reference to dated models of Windows computers, but it would give a general understanding of how computer and operating systems work for those who do not have a whole picture of it. There will be (at least) two web design courses that will help explain web development, but it will only make you use one program throughout the courses and they do make a good job talking about what makes a great website work and what doesn't. The worst class I had was called "IT/210 Fundamentals of Programming with Algorithms and Logic." The major component to this class was about learning pseudo code; which is a programming language to help get the broader idea of programming in general. It cannot be inputted into an actual computer because it was not a real programming language. To actually understand pseudo code, an individual would need to test their procedures and identify the faults based on the testing . The course's weakest aspect was that it did not teach me how to test pseudo code or format it properly. There is no textbook that shows you how to properly format the correct text or a third party to help you understand how to test it. The course only gave a textbook that detailed what the structures are and that is it. The course started as 16 students, but dropped down to 4 within the first week. This made it very hard to get your participation per week completed and little to no communication was given between the remaining four students. I did not mind this for awhile because I got used to writing topics that would barely be touched by other people within the week. The Instructor was very shady and wouldn't be a reliable person to reach for information. Even asking a question to the instructor, he would simply tell you to find out yourself. When I submitted by assessments, it would take weeks for the instructor to grade them (mind you he only has four students to grade assessments.) Whenever he did get the time to grade my assessment, he would give me a low grade and not provide me any feedback. There was no participation from the instructor because he would only have to copy and paste questions from the textbook and use support cases (little pages about the topics) from previous instructors. There is no excuse for this instructor to become incredibly lazy. I was angry and disappointed in this course because I really wanted to learn programming. Despite the drawbacks and horrendous course layout, I gave it my all and passed with a D (my only D that sits aside my remaining As and Bs.)The current status on this course is unacceptable and I would not suggest learning about programming from the online segment. If you are currently in that course, I feel for you deeply. If you are thinking about getting an Associate Degree of Arts in Information Technology, then you will receive some good courses and (hopefully not the pseudo code course.) some issues with others.

It was great I learned a lot at Everest and now I am working towards my Bachelor's in business management To the future students here at Everest they make everything easy for you to understand such as how the online classroom is setup my 3 year is so advance he can work the classroom. Everest walk you through all the steps it take to get you enrolled in school. Don't get me wrong it's a few things Everest could work on for example giving students debit cards for our financial aide money, and they... Read More also could give us picture ID badges like other online schools. But overall Everest is a great school to attend.