American Public University

I am currently taking my fifth graduate level class and have had a very good experience. Classes are much more intensive than my B&M underdraduate classes. Professors have been excellent to good, the good instructors graded fairly and gave feedback but just weren't as engaged as the excellent ones. The excellent instructors graded fairly but more strictly and gave more detailed feedback. The online format used at APUS is best suited to self starters. You could skate by with low B to C grades as with any other school but if you put in sincere effort you can get a good education. The same can be said of the forums, if you use them as an opportunity to expand your learning they are an excellent way to learn from your peers. Textbooks and supplemental reading assignments are current. Financial aid has been responsive, I have not had to drop any classes while attending APUS. Instructors will work with you when you need an extension due to work conflicts. This is an excellent school to attend if you are already in the work force.

I am very surprised by the other comments. I have had nothing but the best of experiences here, starting with the financial aid department to the professors. Everyone has been very helpful and had my best interest at heart. The professors are very accessible with office hours, by e-mail and by phone and respond a very timely manner.

I so far cannot agree with some of the reviews, I have had ZERO problems with the financial aid office or fafsa, I have seen my grades and I follow them closely, all of my work has been viewed and graded with comments to help me improve and with week and strong points, every instructor so far has been great. I work full time and online courses have really helped me gain a positive outlook for the future. I would recommend APU to everyone who does not have time for a traditional university

As a person who has personally taken many courses online I am writing this review on behalf of my husband who attended AMU last year. The classes were ok, some were just a joke in that the material was outdated or the work completed was not read however had a grade. The most frustrating thing about AMU/APUS is the Financial Aide Department and getting in touch with someone who knows what they are doing. Turns out they did not input my husbands information for his financial aide, awarded him too much (which we did call and confirm multiple times) and did not tell him anything until we requested his transcripts. When we requested his transcripts they said they would not release them until he paid them $4,230. Went through the whole thing that happened with multiple people, even was willing to set up a payment plan to pay out of pocket knowing it was their mistake. The first person we spoke to said that once a payment plan was in place they would release his transcripts. Come to find out that was not correct and they would not release transcripts until the full balance was paid. The reason a person takes financial aide is because they don't have $$ just laying around especially a veteran who just separated from active duty to finish his degree. It just is upsured to me that this school functions this way and no one is willing to help anyone. My husband is unemployed and I am supporting our family however he is unable to pursue his education until we can come up with $4,200... Sorry for the vent but I do have to say that there are many other options out there for online programs. Look into UMUC or community colleges to complete your schooling for a much more affordable price and in reality the UMUC courses are much more challenging, proving to be a better resource for ones career/educational goals. Good luck!

Attending this school has become a nightmare for me. I began class on Nov.7 2011. My tuition was covered loans were requested on Dec. 7. The day APUS refunded my loans on Dec.16 i was told i had to Dec. 20 to have some documents in or my loans would be return.So i immedately sent them in only o be told my loans were return on Dec.16 the exact same date the documents were requested for the first time. Now they wont return my emails or my phone calls in there is nothing i can do.M y xmas holiday has been ruin worring and stressing over their unprofessionalism.

In the APU MPA program you will be studying outdated information: The assigned reading on technology was published in 1980. One of the assignments said we could submit it on bond paper. That sounds like something written in 1980 too. Instead of learning about SAAS, cloud computing and oissues relevant TODAY, you will learn about not enough memory or hard disk space and floppy disks. You will be thrown questions in a midterm exam that were not a part of the information studied; be presented with questions that do not correspond to the assigned readings; get Yes/No questions on Essay exams, and you will be asked to answer vaguely worded questions asking for absolutes. If you are a working student, you will find no compassion or flexibility at APU. APU made major changes to the MPA program recently without directly notifying grad students. No matter where you are at in the course of the program you cannot even change your concentration (2 classes) without meeting the new requirements. The new program no longer includes any electives so there is no flexibility. They put the burden on you to find these things even though they can easily push this information out. I had a job opportunity that was dependent on switching my concentration and the response from APU complete refusal. I’m stuck getting a degree in an area that is experiencing massive layoffs. With APU you can expect mediocrity and indifference. No matter what they say, there is no partnership. They are not there to help you. They will take your money, erect obstacles, move the goal posts, strictly apply self-serving policies, and provide a bare minimum effort towards your education. Good luck.

This school has way more problems than the few things it does have going for it. The tuition is fairly low, and they say it is a great value because you do not have to pay for books. But you rarely, if ever, get an actual textbook; they are all e-books and very convenient to some. So you still have to pay for books out of pocket. The financial aid department is a joke, and they do not abide by the federal aid guidelines at all. In fact, I am honestly surprised that they have not had any type of consequences relating to their ability to accept federal aid. They do not know how to process the aid packages, make mistakes regularly, do not send out tuition refund checks on time or anywhere near it, and they do not respond to phone calls or emails. The professors do pretty much nothing but grade assignments; they do not teach. Most of them do not even correct their "standard" syllabi that is provided to all instructors to reflect their own names, much less any changes to assignments. So the classes and assignments are very confusing; there is always conflicting information between the syllabus and the online classroom. The professors do not grade on a timely basis. Basically, at this school, you are told what to read and what to learn and you do it on your own. Hopefully, you learn it and get a good grade, but if you don't, you're out of luck.

American Public University is not a Public University at all, APU is a FOR-PROFIT "University". APU is an online only school and part of American Educational Systems - which also includes American Military University ( APU + AMU both offer the same courses / Degree programs and classes contain students from both APU + AMU. Together they form The American Public University System, or APUS, as the school refers to itself now on its website. The APUS Financial Aid Department is staffed by a bunch of morons who seemingly cannot get ANYTHING right and I'd be willing to bet that no matter what your situation is that if you have the misfortune of having these incompetant jerks to go through - THEY WILL SCREW UP everything and anything that is under their authority .

I had taken several undergraduate courses through APU, which I transferred to the state university to expedite the completion BA degree. Once I completed my BA, I decided to continue with my education with APU because of my previous experience. My initial experience with financial aid was not the best. Since I was not able to register for the program until I completed my BA, I had to get an exception for my financial aid intent letter which is usually required 6 weeks prior to the start of the course. Since I needed an exception for this, on the first day of class I was not allowed access. After speaking with the financial aid representative for approximately fifteen minutes, my courses were unlocked and the funds were disbursed three weeks after the start of the course. The public administration courses consist of a lot of reading and writing, which is to be expected from a graduate level course. While I do not think that the courses that I have taken so far have been challenging, they have been very insightful and I have learned a lot. I like that I have the option to work at my own pace and still be held accountable to submit assignments by the posted due date. I do realize that online learning is not for everyone and it takes a lot of time and dedication. With online learning the instructor establishes the criteria for the course, but it is often up to the student to challenge him/herself to gain the most out of his/her education.