Scholar

Here is how I started my first post to this forum. Note the first sentence. "I was interested to learn of the tuition increase at Trident University and joined this board specifically to let you know that the situation there is, in my opinion, possibly much worse than you might imagine. If what I write below is common knowledge or has been announced by the university then my apologies in advance but my understanding is that it is not known by students nor has it been announced publicly by the new management despite the fact that it has possibly serious implications for the nature of the educational model at Trident University International as well as the future of at least some of its programs and its future as an educational institution." If what I write is of no interest to you please ignore any further post I might make. If you identify any inaccuracies in what I write please question or correct them. Beyond that feel free to draw whatever conclusions you like about me and have yourself a wonderful day.

This thread is about fee increases at Trident University International. If you want to broaden it to something else why not start one of your own? I note that you have made thousands of posts to this forum and after my seven you're already telling me that's "enough" from me? Get back to me on that when mine match yours in number. Understood. The degree programs at TUI are designed (at least in recent years) to be of increasing difficulty and hence one might expect later courses to be more time consuming than those at the start. I really do sympathize with you. There are many students at TUI doing their level best like you to work hard and learn. I am really sorry that the systemic issues regarding inadequate assessment which are coming to light there may potentially have an impact on all students there.

Could you clarify why? You may be assigned a grader who does his or her work conscientiously, so any student assigned to that grader wouldn't be able to get away with submitting meaningless files. But beyond that how has the system changed such that you know that other graders assigned to other students in the class or to other courses are also doing their work conscientiously? Until very recently the university would;t even use Turn-it-in to check for plagiarism. I understand that they have considered doing so to enable students to check that their papers are not plagiarized and maybe it is now being used, but if so that will be a very recent innovation, yet something being done by thousands of other universities for many years now.

I tried writing to you privately to get a better understanding of your concern but the message could not be sent for some reason. Perhaps you could write privately to me and let me know? Thanks.

Clearly if you have read the prior posts either students CAN get As for meaningless papers, and get commended for them, or the other posters are not telling the truth. That someone read your papers does not prove that all papers are properly graded nor that it is impossible for some students to get As for meaningless papers. As a matter of fact, in February of this year a report was submitted to both the President of TUI and copied to WASC examining the academic integrity of the institution and raising just that very issue. It reported other instances of exactly the same problem, instances where people were assigned to grade papers in graduate courses about which they knew little to nothing, assigned As to plagiarized papers and pointed out that this issue had been reported and identified back in 2008 and that little to nothing had been done to address it. The report identified various systemic weaknesses in the university's assessment system, which uses low paid, part time faculty to grade large numbers of students' papers in a short space of time and argued that this and other issues raised questions regarding the academic integrity of the institution and called for an audit of student grades and degrees to be conducted to identify the extent of the problem. It is sad that the systemic inadequacies of Trident University International bring into question the entire assessment process there and that as a result students who put in the work and effort to learn face the possibility that their efforts will be devalued as the reputation of the institution is questioned and eroded as a result. I was just wondering: by "BS degree" are you referring to bovine excrement or business studies?

Here is the full text of the message from TUI's President Sansing of March 14th - emphasis added by this author: "Trident University Accreditation Update I am pleased to inform you that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) has removed the Trident University Show Cause order. They have placed the University on probation. This action enables us to: a) affirm that the changes we have instituted now become permanently ingrained in the way we manage our operations, and b) complete the implementation of remediation plans for students impacted by the general education credits issue. The Commission commends TUI for responding swiftly and resolutely to the Show Cause sanction and for assuming full responsibility for recognizing the shortcomings of past conduct. We thank WASC for their counsel and look forward to the WASC special visit in Fall 2012 which will ensure that the new administrative policies, procedures, and processes implemented by TUI are enduring and that student information systems enhancements are progressing. It is our goal to demonstrate this to WASC at the Fall 2012 special visit. TUI is privileged to continue our seven-year relationship with WASC, and we are honored to be accredited by an organization renowned for its rigorous standards and review processes. Trident University currently remains the only 100% on-line University accredited by WASC. As the Commission rightfully pointed out, some of our processes were not in compliance and needed to be changed. Our faculty and our commitment to educational excellence never faltered during these past months, and we believe that Trident emerges from Show Cause stronger and better equipped to serve our diverse student body with academic excellence and integrity. As always, our priority is serving students and alumni. On behalf of the University, I want to extend our thanks to our students, our alumni, and our faculty for their support and fortitude. Dr. Lucille Sansing President and CEO, Trident University International"I'd ask that you consider:1. What does being on probation mean?2. Have they really "assumed full responsibility for shortcomings of past conduct" when students openly state that they passed courses and got degrees for papers that are meaningless?3. Do you really think that if that is happening at TUI, WASC really does have "rigorous standards and review processes"?4. Do you really think Trident is "better equipped to serve its diverse student body with academic excellence and integrity" after firing a lot of their faculty?5. Do you think these thanks, expressed in March, carry any meaning other than indicating a callous hypocrisy towards faculty and staff who were fired shortly thereafter?6. If President Sansing was able to communicate so eloquently in March, why is she so silent in May and June?

The issue of when and on what program the failures in the assessment system occurred relate to the extent that the administrators at Trident University International have addressed what is a serious and fundamental problem which potentially undermines the quality of the education they provide and the validity of the degrees they have granted. Note that shortly after this thread appeared two people posted to state that the assessment / grading process was defective and that suggests that this could easily be a widespread problem - at least occurring frequently enough to pose a serious threat to the university's reputation and if it became public, to undermine the validity of the degrees it has granted. To argue that promotions boards don't care about issues such as this is clearly wrong as it was a naval promotions board which unearthed the fact that a graduate from TUI had not completed all the courses he should have completed in order to be granted his degree and which then led to the scandal which hit TUI in 2011. If students on TUI's flagship MBA program are getting passing grades for nonsense or repeat papers that don't deserve them there is clearly something seriously wrong with the assessment system at TUI. The administrators have know about this for some time, but if those instances occurred a while back they could claim that all is now well. If they occurred recently (in the past eighteen months say) clearly they can't and they and the accreditors who inspected Trident University International recently should be held to account for such failures.

Was this for an Undergraduate or a Masters degree program? Could you say whether this was recently or was it some time ago?

I was interested to learn of the tuition increase at Trident University and joined this board specifically to let you know that the situation there is, in my opinion, possibly much worse than you might imagine. If what I write below is common knowledge or has been announced by the university then my apologies in advance but my understanding is that it is not known by students nor has it been announced publicly by the new management despite the fact that it has possibly serious implications for the nature of the educational model at Trident University International as well as the future of at least some of its programs and its future as an educational institution. As you are probably aware Trident University International was served with a "show cause" letter by its accrediting agency, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, (WASC), in the Summer of 2011as a result of inadequate procedures it ints handling of the transcripts of incoming students who had taken courses elsewhere, and because it failed to inform WASC of this despite knowing about it for some time beforehand. The issuing of a "show cause" letter is the most severe reprimand an accreditor can issue short of directly revoking accreditation, as it demands that the institution should show cause why the accreditation should not be revoked. Trident University International had until March 2012 to do so. As a result staff and faculty there worked extremely hard to weather the crisis, keep students informed and help avoid them defecting to other schools. In March 2012 TUI succeeded in having the show cause injunction removed and instead it was placed on probationary status for the following twelve months. Not exactly a stellar situation but better than losing accreditation. Almost immediately after successfully passing the show cause deadline the university's management rewarded a slew of its hard working and devoted staff with pink slips. But these followed a series of firings, dismissals and letting goes which had been taking place in 2011. The prior President had been let go at the time the crisis became known and the Vice-President of Academic Affairs, who was also implicated, took early retirement. The head of the Marketing department, probably seeing the writing on the wall, left shortly thereafter, as did the VP of Human Resources. The Dean of the College of Business, the university's only African American full-time faculty member had already been fired before the crisis broke, and his job was handled for many months by the VP of Student Services. Once the crisis broke the remaining staff worked extremely hard to get TUI through it, but as I indicated their reward for many once they succeeded was to be fired. This applied to the VP of Student Services, (who had been holding down two jobs for many months), the remaining VP of Marketing and a number of other staff. Then at the end of May full-time faculty were also fired. Professors who had been with the university virtually since its inception in the mid-1990s, and who were an integral part of the doctoral, MBA and undergraduate business degree programs were summarily dismissed apparently as part of a cost-cutting measure in which it seems the educational model of TUI is being radically changed. This model had placed an emphasis on a core group of full-time faculty to develop and deliver the educational content of courses. At the end of May it was made clear that the number and pay of full-time faculty would be reduced and much greater reliance would be placed on part-time faculty than before. It is perhaps worth noting that in the business of online education many part-time faculty work for multiple employers, and because they work part-time their loyalty to any one institution and concern for the students is limited. Often they regard their work as being about "processing" as many students and their papers as possible. You can draw your own conclusions as to what implications that might have for the quality of the education and how the degrees being granted are regarded. At the moment students may not feel an immediate effect, as courses designed by dismissed faculty are still being used, and indeed dismissed faculty are still shown on Trident's website as still employed by the university. However, these actions along with the tuition increase and the kinds of reactions posted above suggest: 1. An institution in financial crisis which is desperately trying to cut costs and increase revenues, regardless of the medium term impact doing so will have on either educational quality or enrollments. 2. The questionable future of the university's doctoral program. 3. Serious gaps in key personnel. For instance the university has been advertising for a replacement for their VP of Academic Affairs for months with the position still unfilled. There's also no VP of HR. No VP of Marketing. No librarian. No Director of Institutional Research, and as far as I know the Director of the undergraduate Business degree program was also fired. 4. Having seen how devoted and long-standing employees have been treated the morale of the remaining staff and faculty will be in the toilet and you can imagine that many will surely be looking for other options, and that will have a further effect in eroding educational quality. 5. As indicated by the posts above tuition fee increases will put off potential students and one can reasonably expect enrollments to fall adding further to the institution's financial problems. 6. As Trident University International has been owned by venture capital investors (Summit Partners) since 2007, you can also reasonably expect that they are now considering whether to hold on to their investment or whether to sell it off instead, and that may well be the reason for the underlying change in the educational model towards using more part-time faculty - to make the place a better fit for some other potential buyer. Clearly all this is not likely to be good news for many students, who not unreasonably will be concerned about the uncertainty this situation creates. Yet in the face of all this turmoil the silence from the university is deafening and further undermines confidence in its future. Perhaps new President Sansing, who worked previously for Argosy, will make another YouTube video explaining what is going on, like she did during the "show cause" crisis, but I'd have thought that if she intended to do that she'd have done so by now. I apologize for how long this post is but I wanted folks to know what's going on at TUI as best I know about it. If anyone here is enrolled there and hears anything further or can provide more information or clarification then posting it here will probably be very helpful to other students.