University of Southern California

Couldn't Have Been Better! I highly recommend the department of education at USC! World class!

The expectations and requirements of the program were academically rigorous, as you would expect from an institution of it's caliber. I found that the professors challenged students to think outside of the box and we discussed the plight and possible solutions of teaching students in low-income, inner-city schools very often. Much of the focus was dedicated to understanding and providing high quality education to diverse urban populations. While this was important to me, I found many of my peers were disgruntled with the conversations that were reflected on during class time. Understandable, if you do not desire to teach in urban schools and thereby have little or no interest in overcoming achievement gaps and so on. In addition, the materials including books and articles assigned were challenging and aligned with teaching common core standards. Although the program was excellent and exceeded my expectations, the exorbitant tuition and additional expenses placed me in a financial bind.

Online the MAT@USC advertises a single-subject credential for $48,640. My total expenses came out to be $84,000, the earlier price did not include the additional “expenses.” My personal contribution was stated at $44,000--and I did not even make enough income to fill my income taxes. I received no grants and the additional tuition of $40,000 was paid for in LOANS! No one in their right mind should pay so much for a MAT especially if they intend to be a teacher. I had trouble getting ahold of my advisor and the financial aid office was always rude. You would think that for so much money they'd treat you better. There are cheaper schools out there. Don’t get sucked into their money-guzzling scam. They’ll take anyone if you’re willing to pay.

I am a current student enrolled in the MAT@USC. Overall, I wish I had attended another institution. The cost is far to high, the professors are not as "highly regarded" as I expected or USC promotes, and the program has made major changes in the courses (adding more units to the program) that will cost me and my fellow cohort members thousands of dollars more in final tuition. Each term is filled with major changes to courses and I have found myself always confused as the syllabus is out of date, the LMS instructions are also usually incorrect, and the only way to keep up with "current" expectations are understanding the professor's current course expectations. The course reading materials are the best part of the program. The materials often is all a student needs to understand do well. The online class time is really a waste (but required). Listening to the "talking head" of the professor reviewing what we as students had just read is insane. That is undergrad level teaching. Also, we as future teachers are learning how to not "lecture only" to students, yet all of my professors I have had so far do not seem to practice what they are teaching in the program. As far as support, well that is hit and miss. Some students are given good support and some are not. My advisor tried to place me in elective classes which would be adding over $3000.00 to my total degree cost. I will be already be paying $4500.00 more for my required courses due to changes in the program since my enrollment as several core courses were eliminated and replaced with others which resulted in my cohort to absorb the cost difference in the unit additions. I am not impressed with the MAT@USC program, but I must move forward and complete it. I am looking forward to teaching and forgetting my USC "blah" experience. I wish I had gone to Brandman Univ. or National Univ. as the cost would have been much better and I know the quality is as equal. A few of my friends attended Brandman and National and enjoyed their experience much more than my current experience in the MAT program. I cannot wait to finish with the program and move on--not Fight On!

I entered the online masters program in education at USC back in May of this year. Unfortunately, I had to leave the program for financial reasons, and now I'm faced with trying to find another online school of a similar standard that's more affordable for me. Yes, I had student loans to cover the cost of tuition, and I even had a 5k scholarship, but I found that a 42k per year price tag was too much for me to want to deal with in government loans when I graduated. So, now I'm left with trying to find a quality program that's a more affordable payback to Uncle Sam. I have to say, even though I was only at USC for a short time, I found it to be a top-notch program. The professor's are very passionate about their work, and are always a quick-response email, or phone call away if you need help, or have any questions. The program is extremely difficult, and should you decide to take on the task of a masters degree with USC, just keep in mind, "It's a real masters degree from USC." You will be entrenched with work/studying-you will live, it, and breath USC studies in the range of reading a thick text book per week, with assignments that are given on a Monday, tasks to do before the end of the week, and usually a 5-7 page paper based on the curriculum studied during that week. It's a really hard program, but I'd say in the long run, very worth it.(You can actually get a job with an online degree from USC) So, what I'm saying is, if it's in your budget, or you have a "Daddy" Warbucks to help you through school, you're going to get a high quality education that's actually worth something. This is a degree from a regionally accredited, highly respected tier I University, and it's worth every penny for those who can afford it.