Athabasca University

I had essentially dropped out when they began to harass me with a bogus interview for a survey on their program. I should have known something was fishy when they kept saying “you can always” come back. It was then that I made the mistake of reactivating my degree program. Then they gave me a degree plan and throughout the process I kept asking, are you sure because I only have a limited amount of time and I don’t want to pick anything that would not count towards a degree. Lie after lie- we need you to send your transcripts again because we can’t read them because back in 2015, we used microfiche - for real??!! After more- it’s just a formality and we have to “protect” our students, I decided wrongly to believe them. I took back my withdrawal sheet filled out a month before the start of the classes. At the time I would have lost exactly &150 per class- so &450 total. Then I check the results of one of my classes and I see that they have me missing another 3 credits- my original instinct to doubt why they were asking for everything again was correct. Of course this time they didn’t tell me about the change and I missed the deadline so they have absconded with thousands of dollars. Stay away from this school.

To some extent, AU represents a couple of the worst aspects of both online education and Canadian bricks-and-mortar-universities. It doesn't have the heft of an on-campus experience, and it's rigid and bureaucratic. On the other hand, it's a unique platform which pretty successfully serves thousands of people in diverse circumstances. Anyone who requires a flexible university schedule should consider it but understand that it's a different kind of experience. First, you are expected to manage your own schedule and they won't bend the rules for you. They also give you six months to finish each course, offer extensions and examination rewrites, etc. It can be slow, but the admin staff I've dealt with have generally been pleasant, knowledgeable, and willing to help. Second, the professors mentor, not lecture. You won't meet your tutor face to face or watch them teach. Instead, they work with you one on one and try to help you get through the course material. I've had only good tutor experiences in the seven courses I've taken, and I've talked to lots of people who haven't. The advantage of one-to-one is you get personal feedback and opportunities to expand your professional network. Tutors are well-educated professionals in their fields; many teach at bricks-and-mortar unis, too. If you're respectful and demonstrate skill in your coursework, you can ask for personal recommendations or connections. Just work hard, be friendly and courteous. If you do get a really bad prof, there are typical Canadian public university-type remedies, slow and polite. Otherwise, AU's not all that different from other universities except that it's amazingly convenient. I live in Shanghai, China and can earn a degree in my home country on any schedule I want. It's pretty nice.

I took an elective at this University in my final year of engineering. They lost my exam. I leave to go on vacation at the start of May, their solution is to rewrite the exam on vacation. As a result, my mark won’t be submitted to my home university in time and I will not be receiving my Bachelors of Civil Engineer due to my convocation deadline and their mistake on this first year elective. Never will I ever recommend this school to anyone, they shouldn’t be an accredited university. Sincerely, A pissed of non-graduated engineering student.

I found their material so scattered and confusing throughout the program, and that in addition with professors who refuse to teach, I dont have much good to say. I feel like I'm getting my masters from google university instead of having anyone actually explain anything to me. In MN: NP and feeling stupid every day of my life at clinical for not understanding or knowing material based on reading random things on a screen or in a book. I should have realized this would be an impossible way for me to learn before even starting. Go to a real school.

AU is an excellent choice for online education. I accessed their courses to complete requirements for a BA in English Literature at another University. The courses were in EnglishLit, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. In all cases, the material was engaging and challenging, with excellent support from both professors and administrative staff. I also took courses online through Univerisity of British Columbia and found my AU courses as well designed. I wrote the exams even in the comfort of my own home using the new technolgy offered. All in all, I was very pleased with my interactions and education at Athabasca University.

Pretty bad experience overall. Would not recommend. - Course material is from the 90s. No usage of online learning tools. No videos, no interaction, very few ebooks - Some tutors/coordinators are great, some do have a good grasp of the material - Courses are very inconsistent from one another even in same dept (MATH, COMP etc) - Coordinators, tutors and dean is apathetic to any complaints or issues. They don't seem to care or be interested in any kind of improvement - Exams are russian roulette. They can be very easy or extremely difficult. Courses do not prepare you well - There is virtually no support of any kind. Challenging courses like MATH you almost definitely need to hire your own tutor - Discussions with leadership positions like Dean, course coordinator will usually just ignore you or try to tell you that you are unqualified or not "cut out" - Staff is not tech saavy, struggle with basic things like sending PDF attachments back

After taking two courses with them online, I can say this might be the most terrible school I've ever encountered. They charge absurd fees for everything. By itself, the course is $400, but they lay on an additional $150 for out of province fees, and another $250 because the course is online. You'd think that with a $250 fee, the course would operate smoothly, right? Wrong. The staff are nonexistent. Send an email, and you might get a message back several weeks later. This almost gave me an aneurism when I requested proof of enrolment, and they said it would take up to 15 business days to get the sh*tty official confirmation. Because they took so long, I nearly missed a deadline for getting financial aid. In another instance, I had to get a password from the prof to unlock lab content for my course, and they didn't respond for almost two weeks to any of my emails. So, I was just shit out of luck until then. In the first 30 days, I had to drop one of the courses and they charged me $150 to withdraw from the course. $150 to NOT take the course. It was the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. Understand this, Athabasca was a failed university going bankrupt two years ago because they were such sh** quality. These online courses are their attempt to port their sh*tty practices onto the global population of students, and make a buck off it. Take these courses if you're patient, and willing to eat garbage for a university credit. Do not take these courses if those terms seem unreasonable to you.

About a year ago I registered for four online courses through AU in order to graduate early from my degree though a different university. The first issue I encountered was the cost - I paid approx. $3500 for FOUR ONLINE classes. Once registered, the website was confusing to use and the links to contact "course tutors" were not working. Once the textbooks arrived (all of them were about 500 pages long), I found that that was the only resource I was given - no course videos, lecture notes, or anything else. After reaching out to the tutors several times for assistance, I frequently got the response "Read Chapter 7" or "This is in the textbook" instead of proper responses. Furthermore, once I completed assignments it took several weeks to get my marks back and tutors refused to give out correct solutions to assignment because it would be considered "cheating"; this meant that I was never shown how to properly do the questions I was struggling with. The second issue I encountered was the staff at the exam centre. I cannot say enough bad things about them - ESPECIALLY an extremely rude woman whom I will not name. I tried communicating with her via email and phone over a dozen times to which she never responded. Since she is the head coordinator of the exam centre, everything had to be approved through her first and it was nearly impossible to contact her. When she finally did get back to me she sent a VERY condescending email stating that I clearly must not understand how university exam works - to be clear, I currently have 2 bachelor degrees in varying fields and am working towards my third so yes, I do know how university exams work. At one point she took it upon herself to call me and YELL at me over the phone because I was "sending too many emails" - well yes, of course I was because she was not responding to any of them. At the end of the summer, I ended up paying over $4000 to take these courses because I had to hire my own tutor and pay to write every single midterm and final exam - AU even tried to make me pay $120 just to ship EACH exam out to my area (there were 8 exams in total). My personal experience with this college is absolutely TERRIBLE and I would never recommend anyone to take courses through them. This is a total money grab and all the tutors and staff members that I dealt with her rude and condescending. If I could give a negative number review I would: 0/10.

Student Finance Department officer assigned to me was very slow at following up given the 5-Business day response time as outlined in her email signature. She never once answered her phone after multiple calls on multiple days (why bother assigning a phone number to the poor girl), and the one email message that I received from her was condescending in tone with no explanation provided regarding why my course start dates needed to be pushed out (not just one month, but two months) despite my financing application having already been approved for weeks and the government just needed confirmation of my course registration. I highly recommend that Athabasca University hire more qualified staff as it appears that the current workload for this financing officer is just too much for her to handle. As a result, I found another institution to study with and they were able to register me into my courses AND approve my student funding with the government in less than 2 hours today. Now I am set to begin studies on September 18th of this year versus the recommended November 1st that the Athabasca University's Student Finance Officer mandated for me. I am disappointed, to say the least, as I had originally heard great things about AU, and for courses that are self-studied online, I was foolishly expecting their timelines to be more flexible than traditional in-class learning institutions.

I am surprised to see so many bad reviews here. My experience was very different. I completed the BPA degree in Communication Studies and absolutely loved it. All of my professors/tutors were knowledgeable and responsive; the courses were well organized and interesting; and the assignments were challenging and, for the most part, enjoyable. There was no wasted lecture time (which I experienced with the first couple of years at a traditional university) and I feel that I learned much more through the distance format. Maybe the program you are enrolled in makes a difference. I was so happy with my experience that I am now taking my MA through AU. The university is accredited and well recognized. I am in an executive position in my career and having education from AU has never been a problem for my career advancement. I highly recommend the BPA program and the arts/humanities/social sciences courses at AU.

I've recently completed 2 Accounting courses and I completely agree with the negative reviews. I can only speak to the courses that I have taken (some positive reviews on here which is surprising to see, but good for them). I'll start with the premise that of course it is the student's responsibility to put forth the necessary effort to be successful, to me this is understood. I will also disclose that I have graduated twice already with previous programs from different schools and I also completed a specialized MBA. I know what it’s like to be a student and I have taken online courses in the past. This being said the courses I took here were needlessly confusing, the text was very unclear and the overall support was poor. To be fair, the support staff did try to answer questions but I've found their responses to be condescending, “read chapter xx”. Not only did I read the material, I’ve read and re-read it many times and even reviewed it with a CPA! If information is unclear or confusing, one can read something many times over and still not understand it, unsure why this simple concept is not grasped by the support team. To this note, although they will not admit it, seeing the many questions and concerns by the former students, which are posted for any to see, it was quite evident that the material was unclear by many, yet they continue to use the text. One course required that two assignments be completed prior to the mid-term exam. The explanation was that these assignments will greatly improve one’s success on the mid-term. Completely false! In my opinion, the actual mid-term did not contain very much of the assignment material at all! I felt it was a complete bait and switch and frankly a waste of time. As well, interestingly enough, 2 assignments were required prior to the mid-term but NO assignments were required before the final exam! How bizarre. So one was literally going into the final exam blind (yes, I know a good student should know all of the material going into the final exam, all 1400(approx.) pages worth!). When I inquired about the course breakdown, I was told that it would be too much marking from the course co-ordinators to handle more assignments. I can accept the logistics of this but then why not require 1 assignment prior to each exam to give some minimal assistance to the student? Because they either don’t care or cannot change the course program, therefore, the default is to defend it and accusing the student of having a poor attitude. The second course really opened my eyes to the underlying (perverted) attitude that Athabasca has toward learning. I will mention here that I have taken this accounting course in my prior learning but I was required by CPA to refresh because my original degree with 10 years old. I accept this. I did fairly well the first time around and thought that this was be a nice refresher. Again, the text was so poorly written and confusing. Even the instructors admit several times one the online discussions that often the question or material is confusing or poorly worded. I’ve attempted to do something silly and that was to actually read the material and try to understand it. I even shared the text with CPA friends and they were shocked how terrible the explanations were on various topics. Granted, some of this material at this level is quite complex but either something is clearly explained or it isn’t. In my opinion, there is no such thing as “hard” when it comes to teaching. We can easily make it difficult and confusing to a child when teaching them how to tie their shoes but why? Sadly, this course was needlessly confusing but considering this, the marking was extremely harsh! Furthermore, 20% of the course was covered through online assignments. The introduction states that the student will not receive any help at all on the questions, so basically you don’t understand the question, too bad. It’s your problem. As well, if you are frustrated, good, you should be. Other words, all the questions are perfectly clear and if you don’t understand the question, then you must be stupid and it sucks to be you. Such arrogance! Many questions are labelled as “Question 1” but when you open it, many have several data inputs that are required and if you get any of the 9 inputs wrong…the entire question was wrong! In one case, a student complained that the question required 40 data inputs and was this really necessary to demonstrate knowledge of the question. The response was that Accountants are often required to do boring and repetitive work. This is what I was referring to the perverted attitude from the school! I honestly feel that I’ve been ripped off, not only of my money but my time! I’ve easily spent 2-3 hrs a day on average, reading the material and completing the questions. I did get the course but the mark is certainly not any reflection of my time and effort. After each exam, I felt completely comfortable with the material, nothing surprised me but my mark. I was completely stunned to see how low they were only to find out after the fact that every question had a twist or a subtle trick. Remember, this material is difficult to learn without the unnecessary added difficulty. It was truly just mean spirited. Let me learn the material first! Overall these programs were very poor excuses of online courses, certainly the worst I’ve experienced and I really think it’s a cash grab to try and fail students so that they have to pay more.

Athabasca is hands down the worst! Firstly, I had to figure out how to navigate the website myself; they never give you a video of how to actually do the course itself. That's the first obstacle. Next, they just give you a huge textbook you have to read cover to cover. No tutorials, no lectures, no videos - just reading. I basically paid to teach myself. If that was the case, I would have bought the book, read it, and saved myself 2 grand. Also, I find the tutors seem annoyed by having to help you, and their hours of help are never convenient. I asked my one tutor to help me find something in my textbook and he told me he couldn't, and that it was my job to figure it out. I also find the grading to be really harsh. I did go to a formal college prior, and the grading was on what you knew about the material, not specifications on exact grammar or use of words in a written exam. Even essays are harshly marked, and I find this incredibly dumb, given that the tutor never actually teaches you anything. In the end - I TAUGHT MYSELF EVERYTHING! I would never recommend anyone to this school, nor will I continue my education with them. I wasted money on this place, when I could have bought the textbook and read it myself for a tenth of the cost.

I found the Masters program to be far above my expectations in every way. If you are a procrastinator - stay clear. Distance learning is not for the faint of heart. Masters programs in particular require effort and persistence to complete. I have completed both a Bachelors degree and a Masters at AU and am very pleased with the school, its instructors, and the course materials. Each course I was able to directly relate to my current work which greatly enhanced the learning experience. If I was to score my undergrad experience it would be much lower than the score I have given this program. The Masters program was the best learning experience I have had to date (and I currently hold a Masters degree, a Bachelors degree, three college diplomas, a post graduate certificate, and many professional industry certifications. Thoughts on Distance learning One of my original criticisms of distance learning, that it may lack interaction, was debunked as my courses and the creation of my representative artefacts turned out to be the most interactive (student–student, student–instructor, and student-content) and challenging that I have ever undertaken. Early in some of my group work, a fellow group member mentioned that he was surprised and pleased with the approachability of the Professors. They replied promptly and showed a great deal of respect and helpfulness to program learners. This was new to most of us, but I have always remembered his comments and found them to be true in my personal experience. Much different than when I was 18 old and enrolled in an Engineering Program at another Canadian university. Back then (1979), we thought the Professors were unapproachable Gods. I was working 24 hours a week at Kmart, and taking the mandatory seven courses each semester that the Engineering program demanded. Student-student interactions were limited, ethnically similar, and regionally centered. This was a typical “brick and mortar” environment, professors lectured, and students listened and Professor – Student interactions other than lectures were rare. Contrary to my original fear of possible low interactivity with Athabasca University – I always had a chance to converse and share opinions with most of my classmates and instructors through asynchronous forums, and sometimes email. Class members were ethnically diverse and located world-wide. Group work developed even closer working relationships (forums, Skype, email). One project I remember working very late into the night and continuing into the early morning with my partner in India (what a time difference). The course content was current, appropriate and engaging at Athabasca. It consisted of: textbooks; academic articles; publications; journals; and internet websites – all of which were enhanced by the forum discussions to aid understanding and reflection. Meta-cognition was encouraged and my personal research while developing the artefacts was internet, educational journals, interviews, surveys, books and other sources. I found the student–student, student–instructor, and student-content interactivity in my courses to be much better than my original experience with a university. This M.Ed. program, its distance learning process, and the immediate relevance and usability of artefacts to my work has made me a strong supporter of distance learning, and Athabasca University in particular.

Just completed my Masters at Athabasca. In summary, a great institution and enjoyable experience. The technology and process is well defined and they are a leader in how they use the technology for their program. The support mechanisms are fantastic and there are real people who you interact with if any issues. The profs / coaches are very open and available and totally understand where you are coming from and are flexible within reason -- For example if you have to travel as part of your work, as long as you are clear, they will be very helpful to provide needed flexibility. Further, this program is very credible - and it is not a money grab like you would find elsewhere --- put simply you are not "buying" a degree. Be prepared to contribute and work hard where needed --- you will come out of the experience as a much greater person. AU is a great choice --- you won't be disappointed.

The other people writing terrible reviews on here are definitely not exaggerating. AU is nothing more than a money grab and they do not really care if you succeed or not. I was in my last year of my degree and needed to take this course online because it wasn't offered during the winter semester at my institution and I just needed it to graduate. Did my assignments and my final and got my grade back with an overall of 61. Sweet! I passed (this was the second time I was taking this course so a 61 was great in my eyes). Not...apparently that is a fail because I got less than 50 on either an asignment or the final. Never, EVER have I ever encountered an institution that is run that way. I understand where they're coming from because one could easily get someone else to do their assignments for them because it is an online couse, but after begging and pleading and explaining that I only needed this class to graduate and that I'm actually graduating from MacEwan and NOT Athabasca, and my school will recognize a 61 as a C- and not an F, but they wouldn't budge. It's ridiculous. And then charge you another 150$ to rewrite the exam. The only way to communicate with your tutor is via email and mine wouldn't respond for DAYS at a time. So hard to get a hold of. And when you call the school, everyone is extremely rude and unhelpful (except Sandra Blaquiere, bless your heart). Seriously, do not go to Athabasca if you do not have to. Instead of getting my degree in june 2017, I have to put it off until November 2017 because of Athabasca giving me and F even though my overall grade is 61. That doesn't even make sense. UGH

Poor management and lack of leadership at graduate level. The Admissions committtee is very arrogant and dishonest. Even when program is complete they will take your application. Would prefer international students as better cash-flow.; yet Alberta government subsidizes. Lack accreditation is a big problem. Not recognized in Ontario and Quebec. Try the university of Michigan. They have a new online program AASCB approved and cost much less.

I've completed 5 courses through Athabasca, with 4 more in various stages of completion (one exam to be written in a course, one just waiting on final grades and two that are in-progress.) Athabasca is great value for the money. $800 including textbooks is competitive with Ontario universities. Many of my courses feature useful textbooks that I've actually kept as reference material, so I enjoy that. Writing exams may be an additional invigilator fee if you're not near the in-person campus, but with the new ProctorU option it's dropped from $100 (at my local university to) $40. Marking is very slow but this is heavily dependent on tutor/instructor/professor. The service standard is supposed to be 8 business days but most of the time I wait 3+ weeks to have assignments marked - this is just part of the process. Tutorial support is lax. Your professors are available via email but it would be difficult for someone who really relies on this as a method of support. I rarely ever talk to them unless I need to clarify an assignment question. You're given textbook pages to read with written commentary (instead of lectures) and I love that, but that style isn't for everyone. I notice in these reviews that individuals taking computer and science courses tend to have a harder time than those in Humanities courses that lend themselves to this method of instruction. I don't have any experience with financial aid unfortunately, choosing to pay for my courses as I complete them. All in all I would recommend Athabasca's BPA in Human Services program.

I have taken several course at AU, both individualized study and the group format. My experience has been very positive. Initially it was very easy to register and transfer courses from my "bricks and mortar" school. Every time that I have had a question the response time has been well within the guidelines listed on the website. I find that the myau portal has good guidance around which courses you still need to take and I have been assisted with my program planner usually within 2-3 days when I had a question. I find the tutors are just as available as any tutor I have had in the physical world. The teacher experience is no different than attending a university in person or even high school. Some teachers are hard markers, or not particularly helpful and some are, I don't think the online format changes that. It's as though some people expect that because the format is online all of your questions should be answered within the hour. When I have been physically at my university campus my teacher would take a few days to respond to my emails and I typically had to schedule an appointment to meet with them to talk about anything in more detail. And occasionally I had great teachers and occasionally I had terrible ones. In my experience all of my teachers at AU have been helpful and provided good feedback on assignments and responded to queries relatively quickly. To be honest, I think some of these negative reviews may have less to do with the school and more to do with the type of learner you are. In order to succeed here you need to be VERY independent. You don't have the ability to lean over and ask your fellow classmates for help and you can't corner the teacher after class. I have found all the textbooks and materials to be comparable to what I experienced at the university that I transferred from. In some cases I found the courses to be even more difficult. With all things in life, if you reach out and work hard you will succeed. I think some people are apt to blame a bad mark on the format or a bad teacher on the format. You will get bad marks and have bad teachers in any school whether in-person or online. The other piece is that some people just require more structure. They will need deadlines and frequent human interaction in order to succeed. AU does not often provide that as most of the courses are individualized study. Yes, you will need to read some dry text materials and direct your own learning. Essentially, you will need to be your own teacher because that is the piece that is missing, the individual standing at the front of the class "teaching" the information to you. If you NEED that then you will not do well at this school. As for the people complaining that these courses are "designed" to be so difficult that you will need to pay for multiple extensions that is simply not the case. I have been able to complete all my courses within the designated time frame. I had one course where I did not put in the required time and I had to rush the last month to complete the materials and as a result I did not do as well on the final exam, but that was my fault. In all scenarios where I have structured my time and focused on my studies I have been well within the deadlines and had plenty of time to communicate with my instructor and schedule my exams.

Decided to take an online course with Athabasca to fulfill my undergrad at another university which was the worst mistake of my life. Not only are you paying literally thousands of dollars to learn very little at all, but they slap on fees/charges at unsuspecting students which compels me to believe this is less of an educational institution and more of a business. They didn't offer me any support and barely answered my questions, when it came time for me to write my final exam I was so confused before they told me it would be another $50 to sign up with a proctor since I'm out of province which I did not know about, and the person "helping" me on the phone said I should feel lucky since most exam supervisors go for $200. If you're taking an online course with them, be prepared to spend money on things you didn't even know you had to spend money on. I have a feeling they take advantage of their students as they know everyone is desperate for an education and they can get big bucks out of us. For the money I've spent on this one course, and how stressful it was, I can't say I learned anything valuable except for how to better manage my anxiety 'cause that's all Athabasca U offered me this semester. Do yourself a favour and take a class at another university or don't bother with their online courses and just take a regular course if you're already at a different school. You're better off buying a $20 textbook on whatever subject you're interested in rather than taking any class with them.

Athabasca has been a very useful resource to me. I've been working through their Bachelor of Commerce program in an attempt to get some transfer credit for a program at a US university, and the programming has been very reasonable for an online university. The math and business courses have worked very well for me -- material has been provided in a simple and easy to understand manner, with plenty of practice questions and a large amount of supplementary material to aid my understanding. The online system is integrated well into the course structure, and it is great to be able to study anywhere while managing a very complex schedule. However, I am less enthusiastic about Athabasca's humanities and language programs, which do not translate as well to an online environment. I have taken a psychology course, a French course, and a history course which have been "distance" learning - meaning I get a physical textbook and less online material. The biggest issue I have had with these courses is getting feedback on my work. Because these courses have a more limited online component, you are not able to get feedback quickly about the quality of your work, which can make it very difficult to understand what is expected. This is particularly nerve wracking when completing major projects which are worth a large percentage of your grade. I find that I frequently feel I am going in blind. It is also close to impossible to contact tutors for certain courses. For example, during my French course, I had to call my tutor during her office hours for oral exams and found her near impossible to reach. On a few occasions, I called her every five minutes for 2 or 3 hours and was still unable to reach her. If you are struggling in a course, you will literally receive quicker feedback by posting on Yahoo answers or Quora - as it can take tutors up to two weeks to respond to an email or voice message. On the whole, however, I have found Athabasca courses a very useful and positive experience. I have severe ADHD and I struggle in regular classrooms, so being able to complete courses on my own time and at my own pace has been an absolute lifesaver for me. I have also really appreciated the fact that Athabasca is accredited in both Canada and the United States, enabling me to get transfer credit at a respected US university and greatly decreasing the time and money I will need to put out to complete my degree as an international student. I would definitely recommend Athabasca University to other students - but I would stick to courses where you feel you will need minimal support. I would also look for courses which include many online assignments and tests, which will enable you to get feedback on your work and give you the opportunity to seek help long before a major exam or assignment is due.

Excellent program. Some of the instructors that teach at the ULeth program are on some type of vendetta, but otherwise excellent. If you are a weak writer, count on having an extremely difficult time at the end of the program....all of the masters of psychology etc. Are like this. Get help with you writing early on if you struggle in any way with writing. Reach out to other students, meet for coffee etc....and it will make the experience soooooo much better. I unfortunately only figured this out at the end. Having heard about other programs, this faculty at this university is great. AND the grad ceremony is also a hoot!

My experience at Athabasca university was the worst yet. The icing on top of the cake was the woman at the Calgary exam centre. She is definitely one of the meanest people I have ever met - unhelpful, unsympathetic and uncaring. This woman is letting the entire centre down EVEN FURTHER and should not be working a client facing role. 1. When we got to the exam room we were not let in until after 8, so we were not able to get settled. 2. Some people's exams were missing so they stood in the hallway for 15 minutes after the exam started talking and laughing loudly. 3. I did not find out until I was nearly finished my exam that I would have until 5 after to finish. This was stressful because this 5 minutes would have made a difference, but I wasn't really able to utilize it well finding out so late. 4. I took the pages of my exam apart, and used some extra paper from the back to write extra stuff from each question. When I was done, I put my pages back in the order my answers were in. The exam invigilator started insisting that she would need to put them back in the correct order. I tried to explain the situation to her, she was INCREDIBLY unsympathetic and rude. If they had to put in that order she could have at least allowed to write something beside each question to ensure the marker knew where to look. When I tried to take my exam back she YELLED at me. It seems ridiculous as I should be being marked on my accounting ability, rather than my ability to order pages. This invigilator was unkind, brisk and frankly ridiculous. This is the MOST stressed out I have ever been in my life writing an exam and I found the whole thing rather concerning. What a joke. Never again.

I honestly don't know what people are complaining about with these blatantly misinformed expectations, the university is a distance learning institution accredited as a full fledged Canadian University, I have seen people complaining about the format of the courses, and the level of difficulty, I am in the program Applied Mathematics and so far have found it to be outstanding for what is was designed for "learning" at a distance. Course are to be completed by individual with minimal supervision other than invigilated exams and an assigned tutor, the responsibility is with the student to ensure they are a right fit for distance education and an expectation that they will be challenged just like a normal Canadian university. I have beard people belly aching about the course being too hard, well if you thought it was a back of the matchbook American style get your degree in 1 year, forget it, its not for you. I'll let you in on a little secret you have to work hard and think to succeed..period. As far as distance education goes it is at the forefront of the pack, I have done comparisons with traditional university institutions offering distance courses, and if your whining about AU being hard, inflexible and expensive, check out what a traditional institution offers, there is absolutely no comparison. I summary before you sign up for a course of program, do your research to see it its a fit for you and be ready to learn on your own, and quite thinking it some kind of free ride easy credit institution, its not.

I always thought that the Athabasca University was a “good” university. After all, it is very accommodating to busy adults that have full-time jobs and families. I like that I can complete my work at my own, very delayed pace. The online format suits my introverted personality quite well. I can’t remember to have ever interacted or requested help from the instructors/facilitators of the courses. Want to extend your course, no problem, pay $165 and you get an additional 2 months to complete your work. Want to extend it some more, no problem, you get up to 3 extensions, as long as you pay the low fee of $165. Heck, you can even “extend” your course further, by writing your test within the month after your course end-date, for an easy fee of $100/exam. That’s only $200 to write both the mid-term AND the final! I have done this multiple times, and although I hated myself for procrastinating so much, I appreciated and I was grateful to the university for allowing the practice (though, in hindsight, this was a perfectly fair transaction). Until today, after weeks of preparation to write my mid-term exam, I was ready for it; Saturday, Oct. 22 at 9am. I drive downtown and get to my usual parking spot at about quarter after 8. I decide to do some last minute reviewing in my car, because I don’t want to bring to many things with me to the exam, knowing that I have to stow any additional items into a locker. At about 8:45am I decide to make my way to the examination. I pay for my parking and I head over to the building. Hmmm… that’s strange, the Athabasca University is not listed on the placard of the building. Maybe, I forgot the exact building as I haven’t written an exam in a long while. I am certain it is along the train tracks though. I run up and down the street, but I don’t see what I’m looking for. I ask a nice lady if she knows where the university building is, and she replies, somehow confidently, that it isn’t anywhere around there. I resort to checking the address on my archaic phone. At this point, I still have about 5 more minutes before the exam. Turns out, the Athabasca University has moved to the other end of downtown. I can’t believe it, I will be late to my exam! I run to get to my car, I drive to the other side, takes me about 6-7 minutes tops. In the meantime, I am trying to call the school, to perhaps, let someone know I am running late, or to ask for directions, just something…. I drive around in circles to find parking, although I haven’t pinpointed the exact building yet. I finally find an empty street row and I park there. I get to the pay station and the machine informs me I can only park there for a maximum of 1 hour (my exam is 3 hours). I get into my car again and drive around some more. I spot the underground parking at the Bow Valley College. I hope and pray that the Athabasca University is located in the same building (even though I’m not so sure seeing how things turned out). My parking ticket says 9:20am. After endless circles in the underground parking, I find a spot. I dash out of my car, climb out of the parkade and run to the nearest door into the building. Shoot! That one is just an exit door. I run around the corner to another set of doors. Those are looked as well! Meanwhile, a police officer is pointing at the doors further to my right from across the street. I wave “Thank you” and yes, finally those doors get me into the building. And another victory for me when I see the “Athabasca University” logo listed on the placard ?. I make my way to the 6th floor and enter into the first office I spot. I explain to the gentleman sitting there that I am late for my test, not expecting that the University had relocated. I try to convey how I had frantically been searching for the building for the past 45 minutes. He informs me that the university had moved about 3 years ago. Has it been that long since I had written an exam there?! But he then, calmly says that even though I was a bit too late, he will allow me to write the exam. Phew! All the trials and trepidations I just went through will not be wasted. He then asks whether I was writing an online or a paper exam. Mine is a paper exam! He says that he is in charge of online exams, and I would have to speak to his co-worker next door for the paper exam. The young lady in charge of the paper-exams is, for a lack of better words, a bitch. She denies me to write the exam and informs me a couple of times that I will have to pay the $100 fee to re-book it. Wow! I decide to speak to the first, more reasonable invigilator one more time. He says, without making eye contact, that it is his at his co-workers discretion and ultimately, her call. I aim to plead, very nicely and kindly, with this lady one more time. Kill her with kindness, I reason! She, again, denies me, saying that they have never made any exceptions in the past, so they won’t make any now or in the future. I ask, still very politely and restrained, whether I can make a complaint, and she says that I could, but that it wouldn’t change the outcome. She then, very content at the rush she got from her power trip, retrieves to her chair, allowing me to understand that I had overstayed my welcome. Deflated and a little humiliated I walk out of there, at which point, a student catches up to me. Having overheard the interaction, he offers his sympathy at my situation, further enforcing my opinion of the young lady at the desk for being a total bitch. I then proceeded outside, mindlessly collecting many, many poke balls and even some new Pokémon. I should go downtown more often!

The MBA has been exceedingly challenging but definitely worth the time. Professors come from various professions, institution and geographical locations providing an excellent resource for the information and education I need. The only criticism is that the program requires much more than the suggested 20 to 30 hours per week. The in-residence electives were excellent!! Thanks Athabasca for providing fantastic distance education.

For an online course this is nothing less than a travesty in design. Read a mediocre FREE textbook, do some random questions as two or three assignments, receive no feedback through all of this, write an exam. Rinse and repeat. If you're after learning, skip AU, buy a QUALITY textbook and find an on-line community to guide you through it. You will be better off (and have saved yourself $700). If you need that piece of paper saying you took a course, well, there are no other on-line options in Canada so suck it up and just accept that you'll have to do this. It counts. You'll learn SOMETHING. But, you'll be left shaking your head. So far I've taken three courses and they've been getting worse and worse. COMP200 was acceptable though uninspired. COMP268 Java was mediocre, at best and COMP272 Data Structures (& Algorithms) was downright terrible. Don't get me wrong. I'm a self-starter, capable of self-motivating even through the toughest and driest material. These courses are not exactly tough, but, they are beyond dry and designed to fail. To give you a sense of my background: I have a multiple non-trivial degrees and a decade of experience as a (well paid) professional. I've taken great (free) on-line courses in recent years. That was not the Athabasca experience. Essentially what the course "developer" did was take a textbook and turn the chapters into the course. It's a money making operation. They paid some poor soul a pittance to copy the textbook chapters and borrow assignments from other universities (which they don't update... plagiarism must be a HUGE problem with these AU courses). Many on-line and regular computer science courses have practice assignments whereby you run your programs through an on-line testing interface to confirm that what you've done is correct. You'd think that an on-line course would make extensive use of such an interface. No such luck. You can hand in non-functional programs at AU and get full credit for an assignment. You also can't get feedback on practice programs. The course advisors simply don't have time. The only thing they get paid for (poorly) is to mark items and occasionally respond to queries. Hard these courses are not. To be honest, I am shocked, truly shocked that these courses qualify as accredited. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if an audit of these computer science courses (at least COMP 272 and 268) would rovoke their accreditation.

Just wanted to give my 2 cents. I'm going on my second year at Athabasca University. I have two kids and a full time job and I wasn't ready/couldn't afford to just quit my job and study so Athabasca was my option. After seeing a lot of the negative reviews on here I just wanted to give my personal experience. My experience has been overall a positive one. The courses are hard, I'm on student loans so I get 4 months to finish my courses instead of the 6. I still have so far always finished my courses in time, and so far I have never paid for a rewrite of a test or an extension. The courses I find them very difficult in general. Expect to be challenged extremely hard and to give 100% to finish your classes on time, sometimes you might even have to book some days off work near your end date to finish everything. I can see why some people would be frustrated with these courses. You need to have common sense and strong learning skills to succeed. There is two things with the negative reviews I can agree on is that you won't get a lot of help from your teachers. I asked for help less than a handful of times and I didn't really get much, so now when I take my courses I don't ask for help and do it 100% myself. The second thing with the negative review I can agree on is that some teachers do mark pretty hard and don't give a lot of feedback, but I would say with my personal experience this would be about or less than 1/3 of my teachers so far. Overall the advantage of not having to commute to school and between classes, being able to work full time and study from my house, I would say that I love Athabasca University. If you are not a self starter and a good problem solver I wouldn't recommend it, because so far finishing some of my classes on time with a passing grade has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

I wanted to take a BSc POST DIPLOMA only to be told I could NOT unless I got a letter from my supervisor stating I was CURRENT in my field (LIKE HE WOULD KNOW!) I have been a CERTIFIED ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIST since 1983 and have helped to write an entrance exam for new applicants. Is IT MY fault I am CURRENTLY not working in my FIELD/ Have these IDIOTS ever heard of having to take a job because you have to SUPPORT a FAMILY?!?! DO YOU NOT THINK I WOULD RATHER WORK IN MY FIELD?? Part of the reason for my taking this course was because I wanted to get a LEG UP. What a JOKE. I wish I had enrolled elsewhere.

I understand all of the negative reviews here. I took one course from Athabasca University and that was one course too many. I was surprised by how terrible this institution actually is. People here aren't exaggerating! Students receive ZERO support from the faculty. The Tutor assigned to my course was so terrible that I I filed a formal complaint. The Director of the department contacted me to apologize, then proceeded to make excuses as to why the Tutor wasn't doing his job, a job that I was paid over $700 for him to do, I might add. In the end nothing was done to resolve the issues. I've completed a degree from U of A, then years later after making a career change, took a 2 year diploma from NAIT. I would highly recommend both of these schools over Athabasca University, if for no other reason than the quality of education that I received there was far greater than the quality of education Athabasca University was willing to offer me.

DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL IF YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR MONEY OVER AN OPEN FLAME! HOW DOES ONE FAIL A COURSE WITH A 75% AVERAGE IN EVERYTHING ELSE ON 1 ASSIGNMENT??? REALLY???? I HAVE JUST WASTED (AND LOST THOUSANDS) TO THIS SCHOOL TO BE VICTIMIZED REPEATEDLY i.e. ignorant and condescending instructors and underserved ignorant remarks on final assignments! There is NO support from the so-called "faculty" and they help only a select few get through the program! It's pretty sad when no one will stop such insanity therefore jeopardizing this place's reputation. This joke of a school is not even ranked for crying out loud! Word to the wise: ALWAYS select a post secondary university which is classified in Canada's ranking system, otherwise, you may pay a heavenly price like the many of us who are left with double standards, a maxed out credit card and no degree! Select your university wisely that's all I say!

I am attending the University of Calgary and I decided to take an extra class through correspondence in my last semester to fulfill a requirement. I took BIOL 235 (Human Anatomy and Physiology), which was just okay. I had some issues with the grading on my assignments. I emailed the prof for unnecessary marked taken off. The exams and quizzes were all very fair though. Just a word of caution when writing written assignments. ALWAYS be critical of your marker.

I am in the process of taking courses needed to get into a graduate program and am extremely dissatisfied with Athabasca University. I have already completed a university degree and did not anticipate having any issues completing online courses, however, this has not been my experience. Not only are there no course lectures provided (where is the $800 per course going?), but your TAs are terrible at responding to questions, so you are essentially teaching yourself all of the material. It takes weeks to get your marked assignments back, and the feedback provided is unhelpful. When you call the help line, you are given generic responses and transferred from department to department. Each time you write an exam or a midterm through an invigilator you pay $50 so the course ends up costing well over $800, which is ridiculous. I am beyond disappointed in Athabasca University not just because of the awful experience that I had, but because they are overcharging for a service that they are not even providing.

I am currently in the process of completing the post diploma Bachelor of Human Science degree. I started my first course while I was pregnant with my first child and working full time. I was credited for my college diplomas and must complete a total of 45 credits (15-3 credit courses) in order to finish my degree. So far I have completed 4 courses and i will be finished my fifth course in two weeks. I was a little nervous about distance education, but between my job, one little one, another on the way and a household to take care of, physically attending school at this time is just not possible. My first course was a 200 level course. I registered early and was sent the course materials right away. I was also given access to the online materials with the exception of the assignments; this was nice because i was able to learn how to use moodle before the course started. The workload was high and I had to work hard and put in a lot of hours. There was some group work involved and I was nervous about posting my work for others to see, but I quickly realized that some people just weren't putting in any effort. I was really surprised at how lazy some people were and I was also a little angry. We were meant to post our work so others could comment on it and I was to comment on theirs and then i was evaluated on my responses. The deadlines were strict for posting so that everyone would have a chance to reply to the posts and some people didn't even bother posting on time. This was really frustrating as I kept checking back to see if it was posted knowing that I had less and less time to come up with a good response. We weren't penalized for others not doing the work, but it was nerve wracking none the less. I was given 6 months to complete the course and it took me the full 6 months to complete it. For my next three courses, each one also took the full 6 months. It is probably fair to say if I wasn't working full time and taking care of my family I could probably finish each course more quickly. In each course so far, the course objectives are clearly outlined in the syllabus and course handbook and this is where the assignment and exam questions come right from. So far there have been no tricks and no surprises on any of my exams, but I have also followed all the study schedules and carefully learned all of the objectives. I have never attended any other universities, so I have no other point of reference, but I would say that the marking and grading has been more than fair so far. I am currently taking an introductory stats course and it's a tough one for me. I have had to take an extension because i'm slow with the material, but am doing very well so far by following the study schedule and course outline. I check the course forum daily and I am again surprised by the questions that people post. It is very obvious that some people haven't read any of the course material and think that they can just wing it. This is definitely not the case for these courses. You just have to sit down with the material knowing that you have to learn all of the material and the exams and assignments are actually fair, at least they have been for me so far. I am really enjoying my program and courses so far. I will write another review once I have completed my degree in a few more years.

I just wanted my grade 12 math so I could complete my psychology degree as a mature student 45 yrs old. I had an Alberta High School Teacher as my tutor with 30 years under his belt. He cannot believe how much more difficult the curriculum was than the public school system. The tutors that are supplied from Athabasca are incompetent and inflexible, they are no use to you at all, be prepared to be talked down to. I 100% agree with another review, this place designs its program around making as much money as possible through extension payments and re-writes. The tests are extremely difficult, and the curriculum is so out of line with the real world its ridiculous. Run away, there is easier and cheaper ways to get your grade 12 math.

After reading some of the negative reviews here I felt compelled to respond with my personal experience regarding Athabasca University. Usually with most things in life, you only get out what you put in, and distance learning requires you to exhibit dedication, perseverance and commitment to the task at hand. I was in the cohort of 1998 for the MBA and found that the courses, instructors and administrators were top notch, equal to the “bricks and mortar” of my previous experience. Textbooks and software for each course module were sent via post ahead of the course start date including a list of required reading, and I personally never had an assignment/exam lost, misplaced, or ungraded. Each course/module had as I recall no more than ten people per group, and they could be anywhere in the world. We used Lotus Notes to communicate with others in our group and to submit assignments/exams, which were prepared using MS Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Since you were required to participate/interact with members of your small group, the start and stop dates of each module were fixed, so meeting those deadlines was very important. We also had to participate in a certain number (required) of weekend/week long schools to qualify for the residential component of the degree granting process, and I recall Ottawa (ON), Vancouver (BC) and Guadalajara (Jalisco) as some of mine. My fellow students were from extremely diverse backgrounds (breweries, banks, telecoms, physicians, farms and on…) all contributing their own experiences and personalities to the learning process and of course to our group assignments (one per module). Due to a family tragedy I was unable to attend convocation until June of 2002 so unfortunately didn’t get to meet some of my group members in person. That is my only disappointment with this programme (not AU’s fault), the study workload in my case involved about forty five hours per week, a tad more than the twenty to thirty suggested in the AU information materials. All in all, a very rewarding experience for me, but you sure have to have a study plan and follow it religiously, the work load is pretty intense.

AU's C++ (that's a computer programming language) is incredibly awful, it's painfully obvious that the guy who wrote it did no more than copy a few references from the text into their course delivery system. And I was really, really floored when the bulk of the exam was LITERALLY an exact copy of one of the homework projects (surely this is not normal. I have never seen it before). When I complained about this, it was clear that AU Admin could not care less. This bothered me more than the poor course itself. So, I am more-or-less set against AU, from this experience. To be fair, I took two other courses from them also, and they were ... OK. I would say, I learned quite a bit and the delivery was OK. I really like the way their web site and system is setup and administratively, everything was good. The cost seems crazily high, but it's comparable to TRU and other unis, and much less than some American unis. However, I was so turned off by C++ that I'm kind of scared to try another one. Also: I find it kind of amazing that AU (and most likely other unis) are SO FAR BEHIND places like Coursera and Udacity in terms of providing videos and proper course notes (though this varies). Really, the ONLY reason I'd use AU, etc. over the MOOC's is the piece of paper. And that's pretty sad, that (in many cases) the unis aren't even trying to update themselves. I can't wait for the day Coursera/Udacity are as recognized as the unis are.

A disappointment. So far I've taken two courses and in both cases I was left with the feeling that I was in it completely alone. COMP200 Introduction to Computing and Information Systems (revision 6) used a mediocre textbook and a handful of make-work projects. The design of the course encouraged minimal interaction with other students (but that's more than its follow-up course). The overall difficulty of the course was probably on the easier side for a first year, introductory course. What was disappointing is that so little thought has gone into encouraging students to engage with each other (other than through trivial, post your thoughts on x, y or z posts). And, there was hardly any tutor/instructor presence. They're now onto revision 7 which includes a much better textbook. If you're in need of an intro to computer studies (not programming!) this is an adequate course. People complaining this is a hard course or the tutors are hard markers probably submitted mediocre work. It was surprising to me to see the crap that people were prepared to post in the forums for their mandatory 'participation' assignments. I'd be plain and simple embarrassed. If the quality of their work was anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if they submitted really poor quality assignments too and didn't bother studying. COMP268 Introduction to Computer Programming (Java) (revision 11). All this course was was read the first half of the textbook. There's NO interaction with other students. There's hardly any interaction with the tutors/course coordinator and there's definitely no one even resembling a prof. In terms of difficulty, I'd rate this as a medium 2nd year university course. Not particularly easy. Not particularly hard. Disclosure: I did very well in both courses and am very glad I didn't do my undergraduate degree at Athabasca. What a joke! Overall I've got to say I was disappointed by the process and courses. Tuition for a Canadian university pays for access to experts in their fields. There were no experts to be seen for miles. Getting in touch with the tutors and instructors was an exercise in futility. I'm still debating whether to take any more courses through Athabasca. Tragically they're the only provider of computer science courses on-line in Canada. If that weren't the case I would be somewhere else in a heartbeat. Somewhere where I could feel like I'm learning and could learn from my peers and from the professors. PS I ranked teachers a one because I didn't EVER see a teacher in both courses I took. Not once. Even technology could be considered mediocre at best. These two courses failed to use IT in any meaningful way. Assignments were trivial and there was NO PRACTICE ANYWHERE. The free courses offered by Coursera and Udacity were MUCH better. They actually used such things as on-line program checkers and student feedback to provide feedback. Want to LEARN, got to another institution. Want a credit, go to Athabasca U. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I desperately want to learn but this is the only option to get credits given where I live (I don't have access to universities where I live).

I've only taken one course from Athabasca University however, it left me highly disappointed. The lessons at first glance appeared organized, yet I quickly learned this was not the case; ex)Lesson 3 assignment questions were based on material covered in lesson 5, labs were out of order etc. (though the library kits were excellent). The Tutor was unapproachable. I never was able to reach him during his set office hours, which is unheard of at the other post secondary institution I've completed programs at. If my experience with this course is a representation of the quality of education offered through Athabasca University, I would not recommend their programs.

I recently completed my M.C. through Athabasca. I can only speak to the Graduate level program I completed. First, it has been stated both in these reviews and on the Athabasca website that Psychological registration is determined on the provincial level- thus students should ensure that they will be able to achieve registration at a satisfactory level in their own jurisdiction upon completion of the degree. On a national level, all graduates can register as C.C.C. As a busy professional and parent, attending a brick and mortar facility wasn't a viable option for me. Athabasca runs a program that met my need to further my education while maintaining my job. That said, be prepared for an intense workload with very concrete participation expectations that must be met to achieve good grades. I graduated with a 3.6 while maintaining my career and life, so it can be done. Further, there is a significant (500 hour) practicum commitment and the degree completion requires development of a 25 page professional manuscript to be submitted to an academic journal. This program is no walk in the park. It requires commitment, a lot of time, travel to seminars for the face to face component, and the ability to learn independently. This was a much more challenging program than any I have completed in my education history- which it should be at a Graduate level. My sole complaint is that some of the course materials require revision and many of the assignment criteria were not as specific as I would have liked. They don't spoon-feed the content to you, to be certain.

I would not recommend this university to anyone. Failing even one small assignment will fail you the course, and make all your other hard work a waste of time. If you want to rewrite, the fees are outrageous. You already paid hundreds/thousands of dollars, and they want hundreds more dollars if you make one mistake. It is ridiculous. Do not take the courses offered here, unless you do well under extreme pressure and have loads of money to spend.

Athabasca has provided me with an opportunity to a University education I would otherwise not have! It costs money, check, I pay invigilators to oversee my exams, yes, my total cost for my degree will be about $26K usd. Great value for me spread over four years .... I paid more for my new Nissan Rogue ... not much, but more :). I have had great experiences with the administrators, all pleasant and always helpful. My tutors have always answered my questions and queries in the time stated or sooner. The material requires much reading and study, and I have found it rewarding in many ways. Upon reading the positive and negative comments onsite, it seems to me that many of the students perhaps did not read the details of what the university offers and how the material is delivered. It would then seem that their negative reaction to their expectations derailed their commitment to learning and hard work. I am sure mistakes have occurred, I recently had a letter from the office of the registrar stating my final grade considerably below my actual. One email and a quick telephone call to the 1800 number and all was easily sorted. If you are able to read and study alone, on your own schedule, then Athabasca will provide quality materials to learn. I also seemed to find plenty of student support and library resources. If you require a professor to lead your education with visual aides and power points etc, perhaps your place simply is not at Athabasca University. Good Luck to all in your endeavours and enjoy, I am enjoying mine here at Athabasca!

Very good school! You have to be self-motivated and a hard worker. You will not wing these classes; however, it is worth the effort. The tuition costs are very affordable, and the textbooks and learning materials are presented well. Admittedly, it IS difficult to learn without the face-to-face classes you would get from attending a campus, but if you want to work at your own pace, or even get a 4-year degree in 3 years, this is the way to GO! I'm starting my second year, and am on track to be done next year!

I have read a lot of reviews here and quite frankly must be taking courses through a different university. I have been taking courses since 2009 and almost finished my bachelors in business management. I have never had any problems with the staff both admin and teachers. I have always received prompt responses and I have found the courses to be fair and reasonable. I have taken over 20 exams and never had a problem with an invigilator or the school. I am more than happy to recommend Athabasca University to any adult that wants to make an advancement in their education.

While working more than full time hours, I completed a Finance Certificate through AU between 2012-2014, thereafter, finding myself unable to obtain employment based on my newly completed education, I enrolled in and completed further coursework in Accounting and Marketing. Between 2012 and 2015, I noticed the ongoing effects of further and further cutbacks, the transition to e-text books (course materials fees are included in the cost of each course and are not optional, so students must procure the paper text independently should they find it impossible to complete online work and refer to the online text concurrently), the lack of available or seemingly willing tutors for many courses, and the overall lack of administrative assistance. The call centre system in the Faculty of Business could test your patience on the best of days and often failed to produce results. While in some individual courses, I did have helpful tutors, overall, I would say that for about 70% of courses, when contacting tutors, the assistance I received lacked enthusiasm and necessary content and left me referring to Wikipedia for (hopeful) clarification of course content. The difficulty level of courses did not seem progressive or gauged to prepare me for a career. With a certificate rather than degree, I would have expected more practical and technology based learning rather than theoretical examinations of financial regressions and statistics and economic theorems and the like. I am very much looking forward to the potential employer who will ask me to explain the theory behind an inverted supply curve or the mathematics behind the Black Scholes theorem. Some of my courses seemed overly easy/minorly challenging but not necessarily helpful toward gearing me for a career in finance, while others seemed overly theoretical and not practical for my level of education. There was an extreme lack of focus in gearing me toward learning programs such as Excel or applications of accounting programs that would likely be more of an asset in real life career situations. In taking additional courses, I further feel that I am simply playing the game of funding this (currently insolvent) business as it continues to prove its inability to sustain and improve the quality of the education it offers while facing financial challenges. At this point (it is my hope to complete a full degree), I am considering cutting my losses and withdrawing from this institution whose only pro seems to be the flexibility of pacing oneself at courses, and considering the option of perhaps paying more or restricting my ability to work full time so that I might attend an institution that can consistently offer me a more meaningful, practical, and well rounded educational experience.

I took the ECON248 intro to macroeconomics. This was a complete waste of my time and money I learned nothing from their course material, there was no video or recorded lectures, the entire course consisted of read the book and answer the questions found in the book no effort to enhance the learning was made the just used one text book which was quite frankly gibberish without a better explanation from a prof i could have bought the book read it answered the questions and got the exact same level of learning. AVOID THIS SCHOOL AT ALL COSTS DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all I would like to let you know that I have completed my degree and I know how terrible experience I have had at AU. I was stuck in a situation where it just made sense for me to just finish what I had started even if that meant complete dissatisfaction. I finished my RN at AU however throughout the process I have figured out that AU's main goal is not education it is straight up MONEY! They don't care they will fail you, change their rules, increase their GPA's on you when you think you are close to finishing. Also there is a clear partiality that AU does with people not from Alberta literally they don't care if you not from Alberta. They will take your money and tell you too bad too sad we changed our rules and you don't qualify for this course or program anymore. You will have to take three or four more courses again to qualify. You will see that most people with positive comments on here are either live in Alberta or are originally from Alberta. So please anyone whose not from Alberta don't waste your time here like I did. Its better to wait and get into your local university/college or a quality university/college online than to get into AU. Hopefully you will take my advise and won't like to learn the hard way like myself. Keep pushing and stay motivated you will get there just be aware of unprofessional schools like AU.

In my last year of eMBA and “I’m lovin’ it”. Only 2 courses away from my MBA degree. I am almost 50 now. It has been truly great experience because AthabascaU’ fully online teaching method provides great flexibility to be able to participate and make progress from anywhere in the world as long as I have the access to the internet. The value added by this program to my professional career is absolutely critical to my professional success. Good thing is that program awards PBDM Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Management) half way through the program so if someone decides to drop the program in the middle it still provides great value for the money and time spent. AU’s eMBA program is not cheap but lot cheaper compare to similar programs that are offered by other part time and online universities in Canada. Beware: Most of the American (USA) and British based online universities are not fully recognized in Canada so it is not recommend investing money in a program that is run by non-Canadian institutes. Those are perhaps private business and not a public funded institution unlike Athabasca. Being the current student of AU eMBA program I would suggest AU’s management one thing: AU should consider adding a web-cam based learning/discussion session where students can talk/listen professors in the real time at least once during each course. This will sure add personal touch for those who really love it (Baby boomers and X-Gen) Good luck to future cohorts.

I already have two degrees from a bricks and mortar university, and I've been taking courses at Athabasca University for about 5 years now. Over the course of the 5 years, I can say the courses have been deteriorating in quality. I believe Athabasca has become complacent. The most recent course I took was terrible. COMP200 was poorly organized and the technology aspects were laughable. I went through the proper channels to try to get some things changed, including having almost no links in the teaching material that were not dead, and including adding Sticky Topics to the forum to assist students, but absolutely no changes were made in the 6 months.They are sympathetic at the administration level, but have no power to get things changed. They are aware there are issues. In addition, they have changed the tutor model, so that you submit a ticket to a central processing group, and then it gets farmed out to mostly the same tutor, but not always. In other words, you don't have any continuity with your assistance - typically you have to wait two days for a response. Not ok when you're stuck with a problem in your coding. And good luck if the tutor's answer was not clear, and then you have to ask for clarification - another two days goes by. Students end up using each other for assistance, which is difficult because you're not supposed to post much of your code. Frustrating, so say the least. The final exam did not reflect the course material (I'm an A++ student and got C- on the final - I am well versed in getting A+ marks, so it wasn't my studying or abilities.) There were errors in the practice exam material (math errors) as well - you just have to wonder whether there were errors in the final - but no feedback, of course. I'm a pretty positive person, but having taken 6 Athabasca courses now, and have noticed a definite slide in the quality of the courses as well as the quality and availability of tutor help. I spoke with a tutor and he was very bitter about the model, saying they only get paid now if they work with a student. No tutors were on the forum - it was the blind leading the blind where students were doing their best to help other students. I was shocked at how poorly the whole course was run. I would not recommend Athabasca, and I am researching another online university to take my Computer Science Certificate from.

What a waste of money and time. This is the worse university I have ever had to pay money to and attend. I had to do a math course to finish my degree at another university and this was a very horrendous experience for me. I had to do two supplemental exams, because I failed the computer section by .5 points. I aced the theory sections and the mean awful professor failed me. I had to pay $250 to do a supplemental exam worth 7 percent......yes 7 percent. I will never recommend this awful, stupid money grabbing university to anyone.AVOID!

Completed one research methodology course to supplement my graduate education at a different institution. Value for money was poor considering how little feedback and direction was offered by the professor. There was always an excuse for not responding to questions or assignments - away doing field research, away for year-end holiday, busy preparing for a conference, presenting a paper, etc, etc. Perhaps Athabasca is demanding of its professors and this person is overworked. I feel like the university took my money but delivered little in return.

Here is the skinny, I did 99% of my degree at Dalhousie but I wanted to get a jump on the job market so I left my bachelor's degree 2 classes shy. I thought I would just do them distance and it would be a piece of cake. Well, Athabasca University is not at all what conventional distance is supposed to be. I had a 4.22 GPA so I am a motivated student and I still could not get over how difficult this school makes its course work. Here is how it works; you pay like 800 with fees per course, they send you an outdated textbook, then you literally have to learn from the textbook without help. They do not teach you via webinars or pre-recorded lectures. I cannot emphasize this point enough YOU WILL HAVE TO TEACH YOURSELF EVERYTHING. My advice give you money to a local college or university not this joke of a corporation because after my 1 courses I sure did.

The program required to submit my oral presentations was said to have many difficulties. My tutor told me that she could arrange alternatives if I had difficulties. I needed such alternatives; however, her support was not there. I submitted my assignment via document and she refused. Unprofessionally, I was told to leave a voicemail as my submission. The University I attend full-time and the invigilator school had recommended I do not pursue this demand. Half of the emails I have sent to this tutor were unresponded to. It took over a month for her to reply with my password and username for the program I needed to use to meet deadlines. She has not been in her office during designated officer hours on 5 accounts that I have called and left messages. She has failed to return my phone calls. Upon calling the University for assistance, I was redirected many times. I was told to send an email with documentation of my experience at that time. This I will wait to do upon completion of the course. How can this process be effective when the email I send will be forwarded to the Tutor that will mark the rest of my assignments?

I am taking two courses for enrichment. I am an American and need exam services to mail exams to a college near me. The exam unit is not good, lady was really mean and was talking to a co-worker while I was trying to straighten things out. Not worth the aggravation even for enrichment and if you actually have to get a degree and job afterwards I would not touch this place. The courses (both math) are OK but ludicrously hard given the limited interaction with instructors. The tutors do make a game attempt and I always heard back from them immediately so there's that. Oh, you probably will not get any e-mails from admin since they tend to bounce back from your ISP and god forbid they call you and leave a message.

I don't even know where to begin with this. My experience at Athabasca was horrendous. The school has the worst administration I have EVER dealt with in my life. Please keep in mind I am a post graduate student with Dean's list standing every semester at my University where I am highly regarded by both my peers and professors. Because my school did not offer the courses I needed within the timeframes it was suggested that I take Athabasca courses. 4 of them unfortunately. I have paid out of my teeth to have incorrect exams sent, sent on wrong dates, tracking down exams, exams lost, and the poorest quality of exams I have ever written. The school has a great policies (thick with sarcasm) that every student must strictly adhere to otherwise you will be charged anywhere from 100-200 dollars, but if Athabasca messes up your schooling you won't even receive an apology. Any invigilator that I have utilized to write my exams for Athabasca says they have deplorable habits when it comes to sending exams correctly. Athabasca does not care about you as a student they "fee" everything and do not even bother contesting in their appeals department because it will fall on deaf ears. Honestly, it never ends with them. I was sent wrong textbooks, used textbooks (that I paid full price for), you name it they have done it to me. The courses range from the simplest, teach yourself in a week and get an A course, to the most cryptic, none course related crap you have ever tried to teach yourself without any help from tutors. One course I paid full price (which would typically include a textbook) and I ended up printing out 25 articles, each around 15 pages, to get my material for the course. It amazes me that Athabasca is receiving good, or even exceptional, reviews. If you don't mind wasting your time and money and dealing with the most incompetent staff in the history of online schooling, please be my guest and try it out. It's like playing Russian Roulette. Every course has been a stress inducing nightmare for the last 6 months. Enjoy.

If you need to use the student loan department of this university, then I hope for your sake that your name does not begin with R-Z. [Name omitted] is the worst person you could ever be unlucky enough to have assigned to your name. She has no interest in doing an effective job, and does not care one whit for the importance of your education. If she decides she doesn't like you, she will do everything in her power to hold up your application...and if you dare ask any questions about her behavior, or if you question the status of the appendix 3 they are supposed to send, she will decide she does not like you. If you are abused by the complete futility of this woman's work (or lack thereof) don't bother attempting to contact the supervisor. She will just brush you off and not answer or return your calls or emails. There is NO accountability to this department whatsoever, and your funding is at the mercy of childish, snotty, inept buffoons.

I'm currently enrolled in the 3 yr psychology degree program with AU. Truthfully, I'm so glad I chose this school. I was so hesitant because of the "online distant learning" and spent hours on Google trying to figure out if AU is accredited and has a good reputation (okay, maybe not hours!). I contacted our home University, The University Of Toronto in both the Faculty of Psychology and the faculty of dentistry and they both said that they accept AU students all the time!. Anyway, after finally receiving my first set of text books for my first few courses I was so eager to learn how the system works, how to hand in assignments, how the grading system works etc. etc. The reason why I was so eager was because a few weeks prior, my friend told me she took a life science program with AU and failed her first 2 courses! lol. So anyway, I'm now half way through my program, and let me tell you.. I have no complaints! The books get mailed to you sometimes before your semester start date, the tutors always help, and I found the key to success is just reading the textbook and grasping all knowledge from it! I'm from Toronto Ontario, and the student loan services (OSAP) funds AU students! Also, the school advisers really reach out and help, one adviser helped me pick the right courses just in time for my potential grad school application. Overall, I give this school a 10 out of 10 for everything.

I am a year into this program and am very happy with my decision to attend Athabasca. I had a 3.8 GPA, so did not just "settle" for this school. I appreciate how the program is designed for working professionals, which allowed me to continue full time work while competing graduate studies. I find the classes challenging but thorough, and so far have not been disappointed by my education. However, some previous reviews are providing false information and I would like to add my experiences. -Upon completing this program, you are able to register as a Canadian Certified Counsellor. This certification is Canada wide and recognized. You can also register with the BC Association of Counsellors, the Alberta Psychological Association, and the Alberta Counselling Association. As a student, I was able to register as a student member of the CCPA and CCA with no issues. -Certain provinces (such as Ontario) do not let you register as a psychologist or use that title with only a Masters degree. You are permitted to practice as a psychological fellow, and can use the title psychologist after obtaining a PhD. This discretion varies province to province; it has little to do with what program you graduate from, being actually based on the LEVEL of degree (Masters vs PhD) -This is a Masters of COUNSELLING. some provinces or associations may not let you register as a psychologist, but rather as a counsellor. This reflects the type of degree attained; usually you require a degree in clinical psychology to register strictly as a psychologist (again, depending on province) -It is your responsibility as a student to research the school and the program and decide if it will meet your needs BEFORE applying. It's a little bit ridiculous to not do your homework on a program and then blame the school when you find out you're not going to be making six figures. -What you pay for tuition covers ALL learning fees; you do not have to pay extra for books, software, etc. -Exam prices vary from place to place. I personally pay $10 an exam to write in a small town library. Again, do your research. AU provides an extensive list of proctors, and if you don't see one near you, you can apply to have someone certified. Basically, this is a program for dedicated, hard working graduate students who understand how the profession of counselling works. Do your research, make sure you have realistic expectations, and be prepared to work hard. In turn, you will be prepared to begin a rewarding career. I have yet to feel any regret for choosing to study at Athabasca,

So far I have had an extremely great experience with my courses. They are well structured, intersting and the material is good. However if you need to deal with the financial aid departmentmbe prepared for a very long process. If it is your first time with financial aid you cannot take more then one semster and three credits. If you for some reason take a break from classes they will make you speak with a counsellor who will give you an hours long lecture on how to study. Even if you have always successfully passed your previous courses. They will not let you start classes in the summer months if you recieve financial aid and you have to submit a loan study plan four months before you in tend to study. The women whom I have had to deal with for my financial aid was extremely rude. All financial aid officers really have to do is sign the papers confiming your intent to study, register you in the clssses and confirm you are enrolled. Instead of helping you through the process they create unnecessary road blocks that result in delays. They will also send you emails demanding you respond by the next day or you will be delayed even further. Financial aid administration at athabasca is absolutely horrible. If it wss not for the delays they have caused i would have finished my degree in January 2014 instead it will now be January 2015. I have never had any problems with the coursework or tutors.

Basic warning: don't take distance-ed courses of ANY type unless you're a committed, self-starter. I started my first undergrad degree from Carleton Univ, and eventually transferred to Waterloo, finally completing my first degree using Waterloo's horrid (at least at the time) tapes-to-you program. A number of years later, I decided to get a degree in my field, and as I had a career and a life, in-class wasn't going to cut it - even though I had lots of high-quality bricks & mortar schools available to me. Athabasca granted me advanced standing from my first degree, and laid out a very clear plan to complete the 4-yr BA in Information Systems. Yeah, you have 6 months to complete a course - but that's truly where your personal motivation comes in: you cannot get away with waiting 5 months before beginning. Yeah, paying for course extensions if costly - and it should be - after all, you'd never get that benefit in a B&M university. Yeah, texts/notes may not be as current as they could be - but do you know how much work goes into re-writing a course? With people taking that exact same course 27/7/365, it's tough to do. Yeah, for those of us from out-of-province, it costs a bit more - but the same would happen almost any time I attend a non-Ontario school. You're also paying a little extra for the BENEFITS of distance ed/self-paced study. It's a trade-off, and for a working person/parent, it's a useful trade-off. I can HONESTLY say that on average, the level of effort required to complete a course at Athabasca is the SAME, if not possibly HARDER than a Bricks and Mortar institution. Nobody tells you what sections of a book to skip, it's hard to find a study-buddy ... and of course, you're motivating yourself, so that's what you signed up for...and that sometimes makes it "harder" overall. I went on to obtain a Masters elsewhere, and sometimes the level of effort in my AU undergrad was actually HIGHER than some of my Masters courses. I now teach at a bricks and mortar institution, and yeah, I'll admit that we do tend to spoon-feed in-class students ... but then again, we're holding them to a fairly rigid schedule. HUGE BENEFIT: with AU being accredited in the USA, it makes it MUCH EASIER to be accepted at a USA college or university with a completed AU degree. This will be useful if you go on to do Masters/PhD work because the COST MODEL for post-grad in Canada is much different than in the US (yes, you can find Masters programs in the US for 50% cheaper than in Canada due to the fact that Canadian post-grad programs are self-funded). So, to repeat: if you cannot handle self-motivating, self-paced study - DON'T DO IT. Distance ed is definitely not for everybody! If you can handle it, it's an awesome way to complete a degree at your pace, in your house, along with your family, while keeping your job.

Athabasca is not for those who think they're just going to wing it because it's not a traditional brick and mortar institution or of Ivy League standing. For the record, AU does have several campuses with the main one being in Athabasca, Alberta. I think for that reason, a lot of the courses seem to actually be more challenging than what one would normal expect from a tradition school. Communicating with various departments can be a bit cumbersome if you're asking in general and don't have a name or an extension on hand. E-mailing elicits autoreplies and from time to time some insidious e-mail chains that aimlessly just go back and forth. As other commentors have mentioned, if you get a good TA who is supportive then you're likely to succeed because they too want that for you. However if you find a rare demon then make sure you have a plan B ie) other students/TAs to talk with, library resources, etc... I would love to see AU step into the e-light and stop with the outdated materials which they either mail to you and/or you have to access via the Digital Reading Room (scanned docs). All courses with only electronic access and no printed material still costs the same! Not cool.

I have to caution you about this institution. Like one of the previous reviewers, I have received little to no support from this institution. Since it is a distance education university, you would think that they would be good at communication, but this is most definitely NOT the case. They have made every single administrative step as DIFFICULT and unpleasant as humanly possible, and have successfully made every effort to let me know that I am just a number, and not in the least bit important to them. This institution just wants your hard earned money, but they do NOT care about your success or making your experience a smooth one. My experience here has been just awful...fraught with complications, stress, and anxiety. I most definitely would not recommend that you give these people your money for something so important as your education.

If you have a good TA then everything seems to run smoothly enough. When the TA offers no feedback, it makes it painful to learn. I'm averaging in the high 80's but from time to time get a low mark on an assignment. When the TA only writes "expand" as feedback for why I did poorly and I don't see what needs expanding how can I learn? Many courses refer to outdated material or US-centric material. This is mostly annoying and evidence to how UA is generally phoning it in. The electronic assignments system is frustrating and has more than once resulted in me losing an entire assignment without it submitting properly. I recommend saving answers in a text document just in case. TA and technical support are generally unhelpful. The TA's who are bad can be really bad. Not responding to emails or generally not answering any questions in any meaningful way. (making me wonder why and for what I paid $800) This is really just a school for getting those one or two extra courses you need to appease whatever professional organization you are applying to become a member of.

I am about to finish my MA from Athabasca. I was a bit sceptical when i started - I chose Athabasca because I move around alot and needed my degree to come with me. BUT as time went on, I began to realize that I was actually working much harder than my friends who were doing Master's degrees at "regular" Universities. And by working hard I mean that is a GOOD thing. The program is academically challenging, very diverse and I would recommend it. It is probably more autonomous than class-room style courses but if you are self-motivated, you can do very well at Athabasca, get to know some cool professors and peers and learn a great deal.

The previous reviewer mentioned that you cannot be accredited or recognized with the Masters of Counselling degree from Athabasca University which is completely untrue. While you may not be able to register with a provincial psychological association (as they mentioned), you can however register with a provincial counselling association (there is a BIG difference between the two) as you are completing a Counselling degree not a Psychology degree. An individual with a Psychology degree has completely different requirements for using the title "Psychologist" or any variation of it, as well as outcomes for employment, and to confuse the two is baffling. You most certainly qualify to register with the only federal governing body for Counsellors- the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association (CPCA), and once you receive their qualification you are certified to be a counsellor anywhere in Canada.

I took a computer science course here and am now starting my Masters. I took my undergrad at a top university in Canada, University of Waterloo, and actually find the teaching method and materials much more interesting and better delivered than at Waterloo! I think the key to doing well in online studies is to pace yourself, study hard, and keep in contact with your TA. I found that by asking questions and talking with my TA I built a relationship with them and that helped me get through the whole online aspect (where sometimes you feel like your all alone studying for the whole course). Online courses are great. There is no travel time, all course materials are written down (unlike old fashioned professors at lectures!). By providing all of the detailed course notes its like they actually want you to learn and have access to the knowledge, unlike traditional lectures where they just want to see who is listening. Definitely would recommend it! It's a great school.

Worst experience ever! I'm a year in and would love nothing more than to go back in time and take this masters program through any other institution. Little to no support and feedback from instructors and absolutely NO support from admin staff. Over the past 10 months I've exchanged over 100 emails with administration regarding registration and payment confusion. I spend half my time dealing with admin instead of actually working on the courses. Of all those emails about half have been ignored, when I asked two seperate individuals to direct me to someone I can speak with in person regarding my frustrations I was once again ignored. If I didn't already give them a year of my life and A LOT of my money I would drop out and apply to another institution. I would never EVER recommend this program to anyone!

I took Chem 217, and will never take another course through Athabasca University. I received zero feedback and support. I would not recommend Athabasca University to anyone. It is a money grab.

Go to your local university if possible. DO NOT TAKE ANY HEALTH ADMIN COURSES. Most classes are good. Profs/tutors are different in teaching styles, however, if you reach out, they'll respond with varying level of usefulness. Ask for help early, not the day before the course is over. Overall, it was an mediocre experience. Just heed my warning about any HADM courses, there's a lot of reading, the reading material is archaic and quite arbitrary, and the profs/tutors are poor (on a good day). Good luck.

I just completed Master of Arts- Integrated Studies and the experience was challenging, rewarding and first-rate. I did have reservations about completing the entire degree in an online environment but my concerns were unfounded. The Professors and Tutors were professional and knowledgeable.Several of the course textbooks were written by teaching professors and others were involved in current research. In no manner do I consider this educational experience "watered -down" compared to traditional universities. My first two degrees were granted from traditional universities and the learning experience was not up to par with AU. I highly recommend AU.

I am an alum in the Bachelor of Science - Computing and Information Systems program. I finished my degree in 2003 and completed roughly 30 courses through AU. Since graduation I now work as a senior software engineer in Dallas, Texas. I was accepted and completed a Masters degree at Texas Tech University in Systems Engineering and are currently in the last phase of my Ph.D. at Texas Tech University in Systems Engineering. Where did my AU degree get me? To the very top of a tier one institution in the United States and to a profession that allows me to provide very well for my family. My course work at AU was exceptional. That being said AU is not for the faint of heart and definitely not for the lazy. You will get exactly what you put into your studies. Would I do it again? Oh yeah and much sooner. Take it from an alum who is giving it to you straight.

In the process of completing my degree. It IS hard to learn on your own, but the tutors have been very helpful with any questions I have. In courses I studied for and applied myself, no mark lower than an A. In courses I slacked off in, or was too busy with work to put in a lot of effort, I didn't do too well, which is what I expected.

The Athabasca University graduate program I have been enrolled for the past three years has many similarities with the graduate program I completed years ago at a "traditional", highly-regarded campus-based Canadian university. My current program has one major difference, though: It is more demanding and the students are professionals with high learning expectations, as well. I have learned substantially by contributing or reviewing well-researched essays in online learning activities (online student discussions on course-related topics, posting of article summaries and critiques, commenting on other students'coursework, presenting assignments online etc). My experience is that Athabasca University graduate programs are designed for learners with discipline and prioritization skills -like most accredited graduate programs, obviously, but with a much higher degree of sense of ownership with respect to learning. Two of my professors hold major research awards or positions, such as Canada Research Chairs, and their contributions to the graduate courses are what I would expect to receive from a top Canadian University program.

I'm unsure of why there are some bad reviews about the UNIVERSITY here. I've taken about 9 computer science courses with AU right now (over a course of 12 months). My experience with all of them has been surprisingly great. With the exception of one course (data structures), the remaining courses were put together well. A lot of thought went into preparation of courses, evaluation methods as well as the overall composition of the courses. Honestly, they were a lot more demanding and difficult compared to the traditional, campus based courses. But I'm always up for more reading. Sure, for one course I ended up getting a not-so-great instructor with fair-to-OK course materials, but that doesn't mean the university is bad. Tell me the name of ONE single university that has ALL perfect instructors and courses. Impossible. I am enrolled in Waterloo University as a computer engineering student and I've had to do deal with courses with no instructors and no course materials. So, I assume all universities have bad courses here and there.

To clear the air for those who are discouraging others with full-time jobs, I want to add my two cents. I am a mother of a two year old, I work full-time including overtime shifts. I have been enrolled in AU for 4 years, completing my four degree part-time; i am in my 3rd year.I am currently enrolled in various night courses to boot. That being said, I STILL have enough time to come home after work, eat dinner with my family, play with my daughter, and read stories. The cost of the education is sufficient when compared to other universities. Some universities cost $1000 per course, AU costs around $780, plus $15, to write the exam, and $40 to the in litigation centre I use. The cost is adequate. The reading files and assigned texts are relevant and very informant. I have never been in a position to complain about instructor response time. The longest I waited for a mark was three days, the longest i waited for a response for an urgent question, less than a couple hours. They are fantastic. AU is designed for mature students, who are willing to be disciplined in their studies. It is difficult, BUT it is doable.....just saying. Hope this helps!

Here are the facts about the BSc CIS program from an AU alumni that graduated in 2011: 1. The program is similar in content to a computer science or software engineering program. (GOOD) 2. The program is legitimate and comparable in difficulty to any other. (Unlike many online credentials that give this method of learning a bad reputation.) Exams are supervised. Assignments are given out and marked. It is a REAL university without the building. (GOOD) 3. The BSc CIS program is NOT accredited by any professional associations in Canada that regulate or provide quality controls to our profession. It is not CIPS accredited. It is not CEAB accredited. (BAD) 4. There is very little communication between university, tutors, and students. Students are advised to use a call centre for many courses and tutor support has been reduced and may be phased out entirely in the future. This makes studying at AU much like studying by going to a library or bookstore: you are on your own for the most part. (BAD) Summary: For students wishing to gain a career in software development, this program is considered to be a "generalist's" degree that will only take you halfway. Employers and professional associations don't view it as being equivalent to a computer science or software engineering program. Professional Engineers of Ontario will label you as a technologist if you apply for their P.Eng license in software engineering. They do not recognize online or distance education at all. CIPS will make you complete an additional two years of work experience before allowing you to gain an ISP certification. Considering the high cost of tuition and the alternatives available, students seeking a career in IT would do well to either take a much shorter program and gain an A+ or Network+ certification (depending on where your interests lie) or go to a B&M university and get CS or SE.

I'm currently enrolled in the BCom Accounting Major program through Athabasca University and I couldn't be any more satisfied. I'm in my final year of studies and, after 3 full-time years, find it to be equally challenging as a bricks and mortar educational institution. I simply prefer completing courses at my own pace and on my own time.

Overall I must say that if you REALLY love learning, if you are REALLY serious about mastering the courses you take, then you REALLY need to finish your degree in AU. If you want to run through a course, study for a week and pass a course, you should avoid this institution. I've had friends taking some courses thinking just because it's "online" it's gonna be "easy" and something they can just "walk through". WRONG!!!! Please do not waste your money, taking online courses is not what you think, it requires serious commitment and dedication. That could be my only advice to you

Hi, first of all, let me give you a bit of background: I graduated with a commerce degree from University of Toronto, and I pursued MBA in York University. Let me clarify that this is a real university. The level of difficulty and the amount of reading/studying that's required is often beyond what was required of me in University of Toronto or York. AU is very practical, the focus is both on the academic side and on the practical side - which means a lot more work than what you just study in school.

I've been reading some of the previous reviews and it's clear some of these have been written out of anger and frustration. I'm going to be as honest as humanly possible here: Background: I'm an Alberta resident, never attended post secondary before, had pretty horrible high school grades and finally decided to go back to school and pursue a degree. Courses: Most courses are extremely well laid out. All of the business courses that i'm taking (from finance to business writing, etc.) have an extremely easy to use computer system. As long as you FOLLOW the program to a T, you can't go wrong. From what I can tell, these systems are tried and tested and the genuinely work. There's a couple of courses I've come across (electives in Health) that don't have a lot of "online learning" sources but they provide you with all of the hard-copy materials you need. The courses are approximately $660 each and as long as you are within range of a campus, you never have to pay for exams. If you're out in the boonies or no where near an Athabasca campus, the invigilator that you request (alternative uni or college) will charge you a fee...this is not Athabasca's fee, no one's gonna run your exam for free especially if you're not their student. Support: Student support has been amazing so far. If I've ever had questions, all I do is email and I'll have an answer by the next day at the latest. There are student forums available for each course so if you need an answer right away on a specific problem, 99% of the time, someone else has previously asked that question and it's been answered...you can simply search the forums by keywords. If it's not the profs helping, the people at the student support centre have been amazing and extremely knowledgeable. I had no idea what I was walking into when I started all of this and to be honest, they're the only university that didn't treat me like a complete moron when I asked basic questions about the programs. Financial Aid: I had to get financial aid for everything. I'm not working, and Linda in the financial aid department assisted me with the whole process. She was very prompt in her responses and I was never left hanging (contrary to previous posts). My suggestions: Be prepared, this isn't high school, they're not going to hold your hand. You need to take responsibility for doing a lot of your own research and if you're asking your profs for answers to questions on assignments...don't be surprised if you don't get one. They've always been great and showing me HOW to find an answer rather than handing it to me, which I feel is what a lot of students are looking for. Set up a study schedule, especially if you're on financial aid. If you are "self funded", you will have 6 months to complete your courses; if you are using financial aid, you have 4 months to complete them. All of the sample study guides that you are provided with are usually for 6 months. Take the time to create a 4 month study schedule for yourself (which student support can help you with organizing if necessary). Like I said, this is the honest truth from a current AU student, been out of school for almost 10 years and I currently have a 4.0 average, what does that tell you? It's not the profs that made this happen, but I was provided with all the tools and resources I needed...you just have to be wise enough to use them all and not let yourself get overwhelmed. I hope this helps those of you that were on the fence about AU, JUST DO IT. You won't regret it.

I have been very please with Athabasca University so far. I'm nearly done my 3rd year, and up to this point the experience has been very positive. I have to note that in contrast to another review I read about the Computer and Information Systems degree, I find this to be an excellent program for someone working full time. I am very dedicated and disciplined with my studies, I currently work full-time in Information Technology, and having these courses available to work on at anytime is the perfect solution. I get a few hours each evening, and weekends, which has been plenty so far. Again, in contrast to a previous review of this program, the courses are about $660, the textbook is mailed directly to you within about 2-3 days (even if the courses doesn't start for a while), and the school offers plenty of exam writing times at its locations which you can schedule from their website. I've never had to pay for an invilgator (the previous reviewer must live in the middle of nowhere), and you are given 6 months to complete courses, however I've never needed for than 2-3 months to finish the course material. Some of the information and learning materials can be outdated, but you are going to find that at any school. Overall I find the instructors fair on their marking, I find the tutors very helpful and always available for questions, and I find the courses well structured and reasonably difficult to work through (yes this is a good thing).

This school serves its purpose. It defenitly isn't on top off using the most updated and quality material. However, for distance learning and the flexibility that comes along with that it is adiqute. I'm in my first yr working toward a career change and have 2 kids. I will only complete 13 courses with them then I'm transferring, and some of the tutors have been horrible but others have been great. It is hard work doing all the learning without being taught but with a lot of effort it can be done. It is not easier because it is online it's more difficult. Real courses without the lectures!

The Master of Science - Information Systems with Athabasca University, I'm currently finishing my last elective course before embarking on the Project route. So far this program and the professors have offered me what I was looking for, an array of interesting courses, accurate feedback about my assignments, and most importantly, the power to manage my own schedule. I'm so glad I took the right path when deciding what to do with my career, the main challenge? it has not been any course or assignment, it is just the fact that you must be able be discipline yourself, use every bit of spare time and work on your TME's, say goodbye to relaxation on the weekends if you work full-time. There is people who thinks the program could benefit from different media delivery models, but you what? working in IT, what you don't get is what you have to look for yourself. Up to this point I'm ok with what this program offers. This is the right one to go for ONLY if you know you have necessary tools and desire to expand your career.

I have been with AU for my entire degree (a 4 year B.A.) and it was the best choice I ever made! I started straight out of high-school, but all my friends went to "traditional - classroom setting universities" and for years now I have heard the complaints of long wait-lists, long commutes, too big of class sizes, etc. and, thankfully, at AU you don't have to worry about that at all! One thing I find laughable is that other reviewers have said "they send us textbooks and we're supposed to do it on our own!?"....oh really? That's a big surprise to you!?! It's called distance education, people! What did you expect? A professor to hop out of your "course materials package"? Also, in my experience (as with others in more traditional schools), you'll get much more support from teachers if you communicate with them regularly. It's your education, so you have take some initiative. Having said that, I did have some profs. I wasn't too fond of, but ask any student at any university and I'm sure all of their teachers weren't rays of sunshine! AU has allowed me to have a very flexible school schedule, which has helped my work schedule and social life be flexible too. Basically, I create my own hours which is so nice. I do agree that it can be expensive and there is A LOT of work (most of which you will do on your own), but if I had to do it all again, I would without hesitation. Don't let the negative reviews about bad teachers/admin. or $$$ or whatever else scare you away...it's been almost 4 years at AU for me and I have no complaints :)

I've completed two university degrees at reputable universities, with one degree at a graduate level. I decided to start a 2nd undergraduate and changed my direction to science (Physics, Biology, Chem.) and have found the material to be very good. In fact, the books and assignments are very similar to two of the local universities in my city, but since they only offer day-time classes and I have to work, it is impossible for me to attend. I would strongly recommend home learning for self-motivated mature people who are willing to take responsibility for their own study's from assignment completion to exam preparation. Cheers.

Studying at the Graduate Center for Applied Psychology (GCAP) associated with Athabasca University..!? Think twice… The program is Alberta-based and Alberta funded. Any candidate coming from ANY other Canadian provinces should be ready to face a long-standing and non-ending battle to have their expensive on-line acquired diploma recognizes For instance, the Ontario Psychological Association works on a credential-based evaluation and they said that they DO NOT recognize distance programs. I means lower pay jobs and to accept diminished responsibilities in the field of psychology (ref. psychological associate who assist the “professionals”)? In addition, consider also the challenge of having a Counselling degree but applying for positions requiring a Psychology academic background. In fact, many of their students are accepted in the program without the completion of a Psychology degree, but only based on their work-related experience. With a cost of $1,500 per course, the diploma will cost you close to $20, 000!!! On top of this amount, be ready to pay a mandatory $700 program fee for EVERY semester for the minimum period of two and a half year necessary to complete their program. Overall, their program lacks substance for so much effort and money $$$ to be invested in a graduate program.

Almost complete first year of my program. First off, in reading some other reviews I find it ironic that most of the people who give poor reviews cannot spell, and are complaining about the cost of course extensions, exam rewrites, etc. which tells me they failed or did not complete the courses within their contract dates. If you are self-directed, and responsible enough to set a schedule for yourself, you can do well. If you are one of the growing number of self-entitled whiners who wants to have their hand-held through life - find another school. In the contract you have 6 months to complete a course (4 months if you are getting financial aid), and you usually have your course material in hand 1-2 weeks early so you can start reading in advance. The textbook and the supporting website from the textbook publisher are usually the bulk of the course material. The actual AU course sites, at least for the courses I have taken so far, primarily detail readings, assignments, and sometimes expand or clarify material from the textbook. Some courses use discussion forums for student interaction, others do not. Overall the course sites are 'minimalist' do not expect 3d virtual streamed lectures or other bells and whistles. The tutors or call centres (depending on which faculty you are dealing with) have service standards for responding to emails, phone calls, and for assignment and exam marking. Most academic experts beat these standards at least 90% of the time. Like my brick & mortar university experience, the quality of feedback depends on the individual academic expert you are assigned to. If you have a complaint about marks there is a procedure for getting reassesed by a different marker - have not needed it yet. As far as cost, what is advertised on their webpage is what you pay - and they are very clear that you are responsible for examination fees, which you should shop around for if possible. Most 3 credit courses currently cost around $760 (nursing courses cost more) and include all your course materials (although I believe there is a surcharge for lab kits for a few specific courses). You live at home, so there is no commuting, residence, or cafeteria costs. While the course is more expensive than the tuition at my previous brick & mortar school it is far cheaper (even with exam fees) than what I paid for residence, tuition, textbooks, meal plan, travel home on holidays, student union dues, and mandatory student health insurance. Approved exam invigilation centres set their own rates - The one I use is flat rate $50.00 per exam - some I looked at charge hourly fees which can add up during a three hour exam. All courses have a final exam, and many have a midterm so plan on $100 extra per course. Overall, I am happier with Athabasca than I was at the brick & mortar institute who was nickel & diming me to death with fees, who deflated marks by marking on a curve, where the TA's provided no more feedback than the Academic Experts AU assigns, and where I had to learn on the prof's schedule not my own. The only things I miss about my previous institution is connecting with classmates... and pub night.

A guy from here came to visit our school and told us that we could get credit for our diplomas when we graduate. So when I graduated I put my application in and they send me a letter that my diploma from Holland College isn't getting any credit. The people I talked to were very nice and said that they were sorry but what I don't get is why did they come to my school and say I could transfer when I can't. They also said I could have found this out on the web page without applying but the guy who visited our school never said anything about that. I wasted $265.

I'm in my final semester at Athabasca University and almost every class I have taken has been excellent and well structured. I found the tutors to be very knowledgeable and helpful. The times that found the most difficult and painful were when dealing with the financial aid advisers. After four years of dealing with them, I found nothing but difficultly and confusion. Whenever I emailed my adviser it would be responded to by a different adviser for two emails then she would forward it back to my adviser and I never know who to email to have something done. Second, they never sent on my information or intent to study to the student loan office without me sending two or three emails. Any email that I sent them was not responded to for at least 10-15 days if not longer. Super frustrating. I paid my last year myself just to avoid the mass of emails I would have had to send and the frustration with not having them responded to in a timely manner.

I completed my 4 year BA at Athabasca (with some course work done at the U of A as well) with a double major in sociology and psychology. Overall It was an excellent experience. I did have one poor tutor throughout the whole process but in my time at the U of A I discovered poor instructors also (as I imagine you can occassionally end up with at any school). The tutor I had issues with became much more responsive once tutor services were contacted as they dealt with the concern very promptly. There were some administrative issues towards the end of my degree where several of their senior level sociology courses were under renovations when I was completing my degree and needed to complete them, but they worked with me to ensure I worked things out. Apart from this unwelcome stress at the end of my degree, the experience was quite good. I also saw above a post referring to Jim Brophy, an instructor at AU. I had him for a course and found him to be excellent; he was passionate about his subject matter, interested in what I was planning for my final project and overall a great tutor who I would be happy to have had for multiple courses. I am now starting the MAIS program and am excited about taking it on. I hope to complete a phd in the future and hope that the MAIS degree will be a good stepping stone for further gradute studies.

I graduated with my B.Sc. in Computing and Information Systems in 2011. My experience with Athabasca University was outstanding, and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering going through school in a non-traditional manner. If you're not a self-starter, it's not for you. On the other hand, if you don't need someone spoon-feeding you, then this program will be delightfully refreshing for you. I enjoyed setting my own study times, going through materials at my own pace, and speaking with tutors as needed. The instructors and tutors are great group of people. Most of the ones that I interacted with over the course of my 4 years at Athabasca were Ph.D. level professionals with extensive industry experience. The knowledge that I picked up from them has been invaluable in the workplace. It was not difficult for me to get a software development job following graduation, as Athabasca is a highly respectable institution. Unlike the other online degree mills out there, AU is fully accredited in both Canada and the US. I am so glad that I chose to study at AU.

I had a really bad experience with this school. Before I even applied I had to wait for days, to get answers from admissions (via emails). In response to my detailed questions I was receiving one sentence, vague answers, that did not explain anything. I was misled to believe that the school would be flexible and willing to work with me on my deficiencies in the prerequisite courses, but after spending money for the application fees and waiting long time for their decision, I was not admitted due to lacking two prerequisite courses. I was willing to take these courses separately, but the women from admissions would not even have a decency to replay to my offer. Awful school, awful management and misleading practices. Avoid!

I've done over two years of my degree with Athabasca University (mostly full-time liberal arts and business studies), and my experience has been really great. The office staff and professors have generally been friendly and competent, and I have definitely learned a lot from most of the courses I've taken (PHIL152 was boring, though). Any bad experiences I've had have been from dealing with the occasional tutor who grades too harshly or having to slug through a course that I thought I'd enjoy before I started it, only to realize afterwards that it wasn't my cup of tea. Yes, the ODD time there's an error in the course materials, but each course goes through revisions from time to time, so generally it doesn't get in the way of the learning process too much. I know someone else who is doing courses through Athabasca U. and she complains a lot about the school. From what she says (as well as some of the other bad reviews I've seen online), these complaints seem to be largely a matter of being unprepared for the demands of independent study (you must be highly self-motivated - there's no skating by), as well as an inability to separate TYPICAL school problems with problems rooted specifically in Athabasca University. Having a bad experience from a SINGLE tutor from a SINGLE course or a SINGLE exam does not mean the whole system has issues; you were probably just the unlucky one who got the "bad apple" tutor or took a course right before it was reviewed and revised to make improvements. You could have that same experience at almost any other school, too. As a final note, flexibility can only go so far at the post-secondary level. They couldn't run a respectable academic institution if there was absolutely no structure or rules whatsoever. In my experience, Athabasca's flexibility comes largely from the autonomy they give students to determine at what pace they need to work in order to finish by the course contract end date (four months if you're getting govt. funding; six months if you're not.) They also exhibit more openness in their admissions standards, program structures, and in many cases, the prerequisites they require for you to take courses. Anyway, I've had a good experience overall. Remember, independent study is what you make it. Your results will depend largely on the effort and optimism you bring to your work. Nobody's gonna babysit you here.

As most people have posted here, this university is all about MONEY. They charge you for everything. For me to get an idea, I registered for one course and that was COM200. You would think that an online university be flexible and you can do your exams at any time you want. well, that's not the case with this university. They charge like 700 for each course (for student out side Alberta), and they charge for course extension and also for exams. Not to mention the money you have to pay to exam invigilation and guess what, if you do not do your exam due to whatever reason their system will assign you "F" and you have to re-do the entire course. If you are a full time employee, forget about this university, it is not flexible at all. Another thing to add, their course material are very old. their comm200 talks about Internet Explorer 4 and Netscape, so go figure. I would not recommend this university if you currently work as full time.