2y ago

UO People is an accredited and tuition free college that offers full degrees and certificates

www.uopeople.edu

The world's first tuition-free online university University of the People

If you're considering doing online college, check to see if they offer your program!

They also offer certificates!

So check it out, and make sure to let other folks know who are interested in these types of programs. At least in the US, it can save tens of thousands of dollars, so it's worth researching!

EDIT: To clarify, their accreditation is national, which will mean you won't be able to transfer credits to regionally accredited intuitions. This is not entirely unusual for online only college, but should be considered. So I will leave this as my parting word, if you are considering an online college that only has national accreditation, please consider this one instead of that one, as this one I will bet money is cheaper.

And here is estimated fees: According to the University of the People, they charge no tuition fees but students must pay some administrative fees to cover course assessments, ranging from $2,460 for an associate’s degree (two years) to $4,860 for a bachelor’s degree (four years). These include processing fees for applications and final exam assessments.

39 comments

First, education, in any form is valuable. I knew nothing about this UO People before seeing this post, and if they are offering free or very cheap educational curricula, then there is inherent value in just the ability for people to learn. HOWEVER.....
When most people, in the USA at least, think about college and university it is with the understanding that it is an accredited institution. UO People makes many claims on their website about being accredited, but I could find nowhere on their site where they say which accrediting body they are under. This is a huge red flag. Any properly accredited college or university would proudly display who they are accredited with. Further, in the USA at least, when a student is looking for an accredited college or university they are looking for a regionally accredited one. UO People doesn't NOT appear to be regionally accredited.
So if you're signing up with this organization to learn free or cheaply, it maybe a great way. Again, I'd never heard of them before this post so I can't speak to their offerings or education. If you're looking for a college or university degree as recognized by most people, organizations, and employers, this isn't it.
EDITING TO ADD: Lots of discussion has occurred on this place, and I encourage any reading this to form you own conclusions. The more I look at the place the more scammy it looks. Here are two sources. One apparently to be an actual former UO People student detailing their difficulties and surprise extra fees.
sources:
University of the People uopeople.edu, also known as "University of the Scammers"
Another Odd University of the People “Partnership”
- I wish I could upvote/boost this more than once each. I'm also amused by proud proclamations that
  They also offer certificates!
  I mean, my company offered certificates, too, when you completed training courses. Our receptionist, Dawn, made them up real fancy on her computer, then printed them out on high-quality paper and our manager signed them. I suspect these "certificates" may be just as valuable as Dawn's were.
  
  I mean I was mostly pointing out that if you wanted to test it out you could very easily and do a short certificate.
  But I still don't understand the hostility, as many online only colleges only have national accreditation. I specifically said if you're looking at online schooling you should check it out, because it's probably equivalent and much cheaper.
- I have no horse in this race either way. According to wiki:
  Two years later, the university was accredited for degree-granting programs through the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC)
  Currently the DEAC is recognized by Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education as an accreditor of institutions of higher education.
  It looks like there are potential issues with transferring credits to more traditional schools.
  If I were a hiring manager, I would certainly raise an eyebrow to see that school on a resume.
  Edit: While there is no tuition, there are fees from a couple thousand for an associates up to slightly under five thousand for a master's.
  
  Currently the DEAC is recognized by Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education as an accreditor of institutions of higher education.
  This is NOT a regional accreditation body.
  It looks like there are potential issues with transferring credits to more traditional schools.
  Without being regionally accredited, I would suspect a student would have major difficulties transferring any credits they received from UO People.
  
  Okay I know I’m late, like very.
  BUT, while they are working on their regional accreditation, they do have agreements with several different schools to accept their credits.
  https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/how-to-apply/transfer-applicants/articulation-agreements.html
  I am able to find forum posts of other universities accepting either all/partial credits in the US, but I can’t verify those so won’t bother.
  Some other institutions that recognize them are: https://www.uopeople.edu/about/partners/academic-partnerships/
  Most notably is probably Mcgill and University of Edinburg. So while it’s not great not being accredited regionally, it might be the perfect solution for some folks. So just trying to bring awareness to people, because it might just be the perfect solution for them.
  Also you only pay the fees when you test to get credits for the class, so you can take your first semester for just 60$ and see if you're learning anything from it.
- Maybe I am wrongly interpreting your comment but
  Are the programs accredited?
  University of the People is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission. The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a recognized accrediting agency. 
  Source: https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/certificate/computer-science/
  
  That is NOT a regional accreditation body.
  
  So, nationally accredited, which is considered a lower bar than regional accreditation.
- They are very up front with saying they are nationally accredited, which is a lower bar, I admit. But that's the trade off I suppose.
  I still wish I had gone through here instead of the for profit college I went to that was so expensive and was utterly trash despite having accreditation.
  Regardless of lack of ability to transfer credits, I will recommend this over any for profit university at this point.
  
  I still wish I had gone through here instead of the for profit college
  I'll agree that I wouldn't recommend most for-profit universities either.
  I went to that was so expensive and was utterly trash despite having accreditation.
  The huge difference in your trash for-profit regionally accredited school and one that is NOT regionally accredited, is your for profit expensive trash regionally accredited credits can transfer to a good school with good education and a respectable name that will let you get a job with it for places that look for good education. You may have paid too much, but what you got has value.
  That likely wouldn't be the same from an employability standpoint as this UO People place.
UoPeople doesn’t charge for online college courses, course materials, or annual enrollment. Pay our minimal fees as you go, never upfront.
What are these minimal fees, and what are they for? I'm always skeptical of these online learning providers that imply they are free but don't quite say as much.
- Per Wikipedia:
  According to the University of the People, they charge no tuition fees but students must pay some administrative fees to cover course assessments, ranging from $2,460 for an associate's degree (two years) to $4,860 for a bachelor's degree (four years). These include processing fees for applications and final exam assessments.
  The university does not participate in federal financial aid programs, but it does offer scholarships to eligible students
- If you click through to their courses they list a fee for assessment. So part of it, at least, is that you can get the course materials for free but if you want them to assess you for a certificate, you pay a fee.
- Right? Tuition was a fraction of what I paid every year at a real massive university
  
  ranging from $2,460 for an associate’s degree (two years) to $4,860 for a bachelor’s degree (four years)
  I don't wanna talk about how much money I spent on my associates degree, so while it's not free, it certainly is super cheap.
I hope their mascot is the Human Being
Hi there! Thanks for posting in YSK. It seems at the moment, this post is coming across as less than accurate. Will you do me a favor and update it to include the fact that accreditation is not the same as traditional colleges and the estimated prices that were found in the Wiki? That way it won't get reported and possibly removed.
- Added that it's national which is more common for online and would mean you can't transfer to standard most likely, and added the blurb on costs!
  
  I appreciate it.
I'm a fan of the concept. Two notes:
While the name has noble intentions, it's a horrible choice in terms of conveying "this is a respectable institution and you should hire this person." Obtaining the knowledge should be enough, but we all know part of why we choose the educational institutions we do is to help get a job, and some schools are viewed more favorably than others. "University of the People" sounds hippy dippy and fake.
Second, if you like this model you might consider looking at Western Governor's University. It's regionally accredited (ie. the kind you want), online, and the name seems like it would be more appealing at first glance to employers.
- I had no idea "hippy dippy" was a real phrase, I thought the lego movie just made that up
  
  Yeah, I guess it is kind of an old phrase. Basically something a more conventional or conservative person might say about something that's impractical/naive/overly idealistic. You can imagine like a 60s American dad saying it about tie dye kids
- Western governor's, at a glance, appears to be about 8 times more expensive, just on the tuition alone. Who knows how much the rest is.
  So in this case you pay less, but you get a lesser accreditation. Might not work for everyone, but I wish more people were aware of UOPeople as an option since I feel like there are a couple type of people that could benefit from it.
  People who don't know what they wanna do but feel like they need to get into college (May as well do it cheap as dirt)
  People who due to financial situation won't go to college any other way (Millions of people are begging for debt forgiveness because their degrees didn't help them at all)
  People who were planning on going to online college with a similar level of accreditation, can save like 40 grand by going here instead.
  Those who want the more structured learning experience of college as that's how they learn, but aren't as concerned with the name.
  Industry vets who are required to get some sort of degree for whatever reason like it's required by stupid HR and need to check a box.
  So my main note to anyone reading this, DO NOT pay full college prices to any university with only the national accreditation. There are a ton of them. If you're going to one with only the distance learning accreditation, it better be at a STEEP discount (like my beloved UOpeople).
  As for the name I can only shrug. Fingers crossed they are able to get their regional accreditation that they dream of and then some positive coverage makes them a house hold name, cause yeah the name sounds a "little" fake.
However, to keep our mission alive we do ask for a one-time application fee and minimal assessment fees per course to help fund general university operations and provide excellent services to our students.
We ask all applicants for a one-time, non-refundable application fee of $60 for all programs except English as a Second Language.
For each certificate course, there is an assessment fee of $200, to be paid at the end of each course.
For each undergraduate course, there is an assessment fee of $120, to be paid by the end of each course.
For each graduate course, there is an assessment fee of $300 for MBA/M.Ed/MSIT, to be paid by the end of each course.
The total approximate costs to earn a degree at >UoPeople are the following:
Associate Degree: $2,460 Bachelor’s Degree: $4,860 MBA: $3,660 M.Ed.: $3,960 MSIT: $3,660
Transfer Credit
It costs only $17 for each accepted course. To learn more about the transfer credit process, visit our transfer credit page.

39 comments