Is it possible to get financial aid for WGU Master Degree's?

faintingheart

I know it's possible to get financial aid for the B.S. IT program, But I was wondering if the Master Degree program have financial aid as well. Can I sign up for pell grant with the Master program as well? I'm just thinking ahead, I haven't finish my Bachelors yet. It just came across my mind and i had to ask. Thanks in advance.

markulous

Yes, I did it. Their process is the same for all of their degrees.

Blucodex

markulous wrote: »

Yes, I did it. Their process is the same for all of their degrees.

Starting 8/1. Did you like the experience?

faintingheart

markulous wrote: »

Yes, I did it. Their process is the same for all of their degrees.

How many projects are there in the Master for security? If you don't mind me asking.

adrenaline19

If you are going to get Fin Aid, go to a real school. Not that hyped up University of Phoenix ripoff.

markulous

Only thing that's annoying is the feedback on the grades. Communicating to the grades is impossible.

There were 10 classes I think. Other than the two certs, almost all of the classes had multiple task/projects

Danielm7

I thought the Pell grant was only for undergrad?

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell

Isn't financial aid at the MS level just federal loans?

markulous

I can't recall about the Pell Grant but yeah federal loans you still qualify for

mgeoffriau

adrenaline19 wrote: »

If you are going to get Fin Aid, go to a real school. Not that hyped up University of Phoenix ripoff.

I have to admit I'm curious, is there any reason you've started badmouthing WGU in every thread apart from the fact that they didn't let you enroll?

adrenaline19

Yeah, I actually researched them for I.T.
They don't have a single accreditation for their I.T. degrees. Plus, they are under investigation in Tennessee.

Just another ITT Tech situation brewing. The members of this forum deserve better.

faintingheart

So no Pell Grant for graduate program, correct?

mgeoffriau

WGU has scholarships funded by donations for Masters degrees, just like undergrad.

faintingheart

Is it easy to get the Scholarship? Don't you technically have to win it?

JimmyJangle777

I had researched this topic of finding financial aid for master degree and I ran onto this:
Legislation to expand Pell Grant eligibility | National Skills Coalition

It talks about the pell grant possibly expanding eligibility to add training and certification programs that are offered through colleges.

For example, my local community college offers a program/bootcamp for the CEH certification. It's $1200 which includes the price of the voucher.
It would be cool if pell grant paid for that! Although I'm not sure I would do that program specifically, but you can see the possibilities

Gamesta400

WGU is accredited by FOUR regional accrediting commissions. The same ones that accredited University of Washington, University of Oregon, University of Utah, and Brigham Young University, to name just a few. Students with degrees from WGU have been accepted into post-grad and doctorate programs from Harvard, Rutgers, and Princeton, not to mention every state University. And to lump them in with ITT Tech is ludicrous. Pretty hard to be a for-profit diploma mill when you are a non-profit, fully accredited University that only charges 3 grand every 6 months.

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Yeah, I actually researched them for I.T.
They don't have a single accreditation for their I.T. degrees. Plus, they are under investigation in Tennessee.

Just another ITT Tech situation brewing. The members of this forum deserve better.

adrenaline19

Gamesta400 wrote: »

WGU is accredited by FOUR regional accrediting commissions. The same ones that accredited University of Washington, University of Oregon, University of Utah, and Brigham Young University, to name just a few. Students with degrees from WGU have been accepted into post-grad and doctorate programs from Harvard, Rutgers, and Princeton, not to mention every state University. And to lump them in with ITT Tech is ludicrous. Pretty hard to be a for-profit diploma mill when you are a non-profit, fully accredited University that only charges 3 grand every 6 months.

Western Governors University is accredited by The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities only for their teaching and nursing programs. In fact, check all four of the accreditations. You'll find that none of them are for I.T. and specifically for teaching or nursing.

Please show me citation beyond WGU's extremely vague web page regarding anybody getting accepted to Harvard for a Ph.D. I.T. path. Go ahead, I'll wait. If you find one, I'll apologize and never say a bad word against WGU again. I don't have to worry though, because it'll never be found.

Their teaching and nursing programs are accredited, but their I.T. programs aren't.

You mentioned their tuition; I've always been told that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

ITT Tech received FAFSA apps too, so did the college that Bernie's wife burned to the ground. I'm starting my Master's at Kennesaw State University through their online program. That institution has been around long enough to be trustworthy. I'll take that over University of Phoenix ripoffs any day.

Danielm7

They are regionally accredited for the entire school. What IT specific accreditation are you looking for?

Gamesta400

Ya I'm really scratching my head at that also..

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities shows accreditation for WGU on their website. It does not break apart the various programs and accredit them separately. I just checked.

And while I myself don't know anyone who went from WGU to Harvard, I do know of a WGU to Rutgers who is pretty active over on Reddit. In fact, this thread should be quite enlightening. https://www.reddit.com/r/WGU/comments/6izcf2/for_those_of_you_pondering_the_legitimacy_of_this/?sort=confidence

mgeoffriau

I'm assuming he is referring to ABET accreditation which covers technical and engineering programs. However, I don't know that it normally includes "IT" programs like WGU's. Now that WGU is expanding into CS degrees, I'll be curious to see if they pursue ABET accreditation.

devilbones

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Western Governors University is accredited by The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities only for their teaching and nursing programs. In fact, check all four of the accreditations. You'll find that none of them are for I.T. and specifically for teaching or nursing.

Please show me citation beyond WGU's extremely vague web page regarding anybody getting accepted to Harvard for a Ph.D. I.T. path. Go ahead, I'll wait. If you find one, I'll apologize and never say a bad word against WGU again. I don't have to worry though, because it'll never be found.

Their teaching and nursing programs are accredited, but their I.T. programs aren't.

You mentioned their tuition; I've always been told that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

ITT Tech received FAFSA apps too, so did the college that Bernie's wife burned to the ground. I'm starting my Master's at Kennesaw State University through their online program. That institution has been around long enough to be trustworthy. I'll take that over University of Phoenix ripoffs any day.

What does this even mean? Are you looking for some sort of specialized accreditation for IT like NSA/DHS CAE?

iBrokeIT

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Western Governors University is accredited by The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities only for their teaching and nursing programs. In fact, check all four of the accreditations. You'll find that none of them are for I.T. and specifically for teaching or nursing.

Their teaching and nursing programs are accredited, but their I.T. programs aren't.

You mentioned their tuition; I've always been told that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

...

Straight from The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) website:

Institutional accreditation is granted by a regional accrediting agency within a scope of authority approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Institutional accreditation applies to the institution as a whole, not individual programs or units within the institution.


Specialized accreditation of certain professional schools and individual educational programs is granted by a number of national organizations, each representing a professional area such as business, law, engineering, or nursing. Though each of these organizations has its distinctive definitions of eligibility, criteria for accreditation, and operating procedures, accreditation by a specialized accrediting agency is one means of assuring quality of the accredited programs.

Types of Accreditation

p@r0tuXus

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Western Governors University is accredited by The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities only for their teaching and nursing programs. In fact, check all four of the accreditations. You'll find that none of them are for I.T. and specifically for teaching or nursing.

Albeit, this is from their own IT Degree Information page (https://www.wgu.edu/online_it_degrees/programs), but this does mention explicit reference to accreditation in regards to the IT Bachelors Programs with WGU:


"Our accredited, competency-based bachelor’s degree programs incorporate up to eighteen respected industry certifications without adding classes or costs."


Seems black and white to me. I would imagine an institution accredited would need to undergo inspection of such comments and have statuses revoked if they posted these kinds of claims without backing by the institution responsible for certifying them.