Charter Oak State College

I went here to finish my BA degree and with work paying for it I would be dumb not to go. This is a full accredited college just go to
and they not for profit which is a good thing. This online college IS ACCREDITED by an agency recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation or the US Department of Education. This college has: REGIONAL ACCREDITATION (the highest form of college accreditation in the USA). What does REGIONAL ACCREDITATION mean? When employers ask if you have an «accredited» online degree they commonly mean a «regionally accredited» degree. Regionally accredited college degrees enjoy wide acceptance for employment purposes and for transfer credit purposes nationwide in the USA. Most state colleges and name brand universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, and Michigan State University are REGIONALLY ACCREDITED. The majority of distance learning schools are regionally accredited. COSC is not a degree mill like university of phoenix and the rest of those profit scamming schools you see advertising on TV. The school just got CAHIIM accreditation for their HIM program which is hard to attain and not many schools can say that.
The classes were hard, and if you did not study and read the material you will fail. I had nothing, but helpful instructors except one, and from my understanding talking to my adviser that teacher was let go. When I had issues with class material they responded to my emails within 24hrs and if I called and left a message they would call me back within a day. The one thing I disliked was group projects. I had a good group, but in 2 classes you had the one person that would never do their half of the work and never show up for online meetings or group phone calls to discuss material. This is a real brick and motor college and I learned a lot in my 4 years going here. Just like any schooling you take you will only get out of it what you put into it. I finished my last class on Dec 20 2015 I am done and graduated.

This is my honest review I have no affiliation to school or work here.

Excellent school for adults considering a degree program. This is not a school that hands out degree, you have to work for your grades. I completed my undergraduate degree at COSC and was admitted into several graduate programs at flagship universities. I am currently completing my doctoral program and using COSC’s excellent model in my dissertation.

COSC is a great institution. I have learned and retained so much from this institution than any other prestigious institutions I had attended. The courses are challenging and taught by excellent faculties which will bring out the best in you. For those who has family obligations and working full time, this is a great institution for you because you have access to your online courses ²⁴⁄₇. However, COSC is actually suitable for all students who have self motivation to learn independently.
All in all, COSC courses are vigorous, so be prepared to do a lot of reading, writing and complete your assignments on time; otherwise you will fall behind. So, if you have trouble with self motivation to learn. Then Houston, «we have a problem.»

Their staff gives inaccurate and flat out wrong information. Admissions staff will tell you what you want to hear to get you to apply, telling you that different credits will transfer in, and then they try to pressure you into taking their expensive/​overpriced courses. They do not respond to emails, and even lied over the phone about calling back. Do not trust the information on the website particularly in regards to what may or may not be transferred in. They force you to apply first before getting simple questions answered, and then when you’re suckered in, you feel cornered given the time, energy, and money you put into pursuing a degree here. Look into Thomas Edison State College, or Excelsior College which are also degree granting colleges that follow their policies correctly. Like others have said, their staff is either incompetent, lazy, or apathetic, and don’t give any proper feedback. You have to do your own homework to jump through the cracks here.

[This might violate Unilocal’s ‘conflict of interest’ rule, but yeah, I am a matriculated senior at Charter Oak with only a few credits left and have attended off and on for a few years.]
I really don’t mean this part-​review, part-​rebuttal to ‘Jodi W’ and ‘Todd D’ as an attack on them but to trash my future alma mater because one feels self-​entitled to a degree tailored to her schedule and the other failed to budget for student fees (?) is absurd. I couldn’t let it go. Much like the traditional colleges we earned most of our credits at years back, the typical COSC student should know college is time-​demanding and ain’t cheap.
While Charter Oak has no choice but to market themselves as an «online school» (it is how they offer courses) you could graduate from there without ever taking a single course at COSC (maybe the orientation). Along with Thomas Edison College in PA and Excelsior in NY, Charter Oak was founded in the 70’s (long before the internet) as a correspondence college with a unique vision for giving adults the opportunity to earn credits (and finish what they started) through non-​traditional means — testing, projects, courses at any accredited school, work experience to name a few. And the schools I mentioned, by the way, are the only three «online schools» with regional accreditation.
It’s not University of Phoenix or whatever other shady for-​profit scam.
Charter Oak students all arrive having earned at least 15 credits but most a lot more. Because of its good health industry major, a lot of students already have their degree, once even I met an MBA, to put it into perspective. Courses at COSC are hard, and if you disagree, you probably didn’t do your work.
COSC deserves to be taken seriously, sorry, it’s not a diploma mill. Which is why, for instance, people are disappointed when suddenly they realize this fancy website seems an awful lot like college. Papers? Tests? Having to submit an assignment on a –Monday-​??
So yeah, why ****? Because I dislike how Charter Oak markets itself (no doubt how we end up with some of the reviewers there) and its unwillingness to experiment with a lot of what Blackboard has to offer in course design. Can’t be easy running a place like that though.
Well, I Unilocaled.

I am currently enrolled in a BS program with Charter Oak. The experience here is like EVERY WHERE ELSE — you get what you put in. COSC is a respected, accredited institution. Chances are if you are having issues — it’s MORE THAN PARTLY on you. I have NOT experienced changes in costs as I go… it’s just absurd! If you are interested in COSC I urge you to got to other sites and see the additional positive reviews as well!

COSC is a complete grab bag for anyone with a lot of college credit but no degree. The residency requirement is only 6credits It’s regionally accredited, they offer a fully online format, and prices per credit are comparable to any university in the country. Anyone complaining about COSC had a bad isolated experience which absolutely can happen or didn’t perform due diligence before diving in head first…

I’m am close to graduating at Charter Oak but have been close a few times. The amount of classes I need to graduate seems to keep changing. There are a significant amount of fees for classes and now their curriculum seems to have changed. What used to be convenient for me as I have a very busy full time job that requires me to travel has now become difficult. Professors are now requiring homework on a nightly basis rather than at the end of the week, where most students probably need their weekend to get homework done. An online class is actually more difficult to navigate now than trying to just take a once a week class. I’ve had assignments due at noon during the week. For a school that prides itself on being geared toward the working adult, it’s significantly misses the mark.

Very disappointed in my experience.
From their literature, they seem like a very student /​education oriented instituion, but that illusion fades quickly once you engage and move past the thin veil that good marketing creates.
It seemed that everything was about fees, and committing my FASA funds rather than giving me the information I requested. I started withn an inquiry about the school and how my existing credits would transfer. I was told that I should apply and pay the fee and then I would be assigned a councilor. After that I requested information again and was told that I should pay the matriculation fee etc etc etc.
Once I got approved for student aide, the emails never stopped. I received more than 25 emails reminding me to check my award status and talk to an entrance loan councilor, and make sure to sign an electronic master promissory note. Sometimes I would receive 3 – 5 emails a day on the subject of funding and fees. All of this before I even took one class. I got the overwhelming impression that COSC is more about money than education.
A truly disheartening experience.

This school is miserable… full of morons who know nothing about grammar. I had two classes and they were not worthy of any education whatsoever. I swear the people in the forums were as dumb as a rock, and their grammar was proof of that. Half of them couldn’t spell jack and were talking as though were on-​line on Yahoo Messenger or something. Some people were piggybacking off of my comments (I took Political Science courses so we had to talk about everyday politics) most of the people who go to this school are retards who don’t want to put in the work (I don’t care what your schedule is obligating you to do!!!) that is placed on to them when going to college. The professor gave you 30 pages to read every day. EVERY DAY, do you know how much that is in a week. even on Sundays and Saturdays you’d get some type of homework. I realize that this on-​line learning nonsense is in it’s infancy stages, but these professors need to get off of their high horses. I couldn’t debate most of the people because they didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. On top of all of that, when I left the school they had the nerve to charge me still for some fees. While paying for these fees, they managed to take $ 1.10 more from my payment plan. I swear I’m starting to hate state-​run institutions as I observe how greedy they are getting and using the people who really need them but are too dumb to realized they are being fleeced. I doubt anybody has gone on to become something great after going to that school. The Police Chief of Hartford went there and he was nothing but a buck-​passer as the head of the Hartford Police Department (look at his record, and you’ll see what I’m talking about) I would not recommend this school to anybody because it is nothing but a cash chasing machine and nothing more.

I could go on and on about Charter Oak, but I’ll keep it brief!
First, if it was not for this external degree program, most of my fellow students and I would not be obtaining college degrees. This is the perfect degree program for older, professional adults, or adults with family responsibilities.
I work full-​time (and then some), have an unusual work schedule, and have a child. There is no way I could possibly finish my degree in a traditional classroom setting. With Charter Oak’s online classes, testing options, and portfolio review for credit, you can complete most Charter Oak degree programs entirely from your own home. This is not an easier way to complete your degree, just a more convenient way. I have taken both traditional and online classes. The online classes I have taken are equally as demanding and time-​consuming as traditional classes… HOWEVER…you get to do the work on YOUR time. You can write your papers in the middle of the night, early afternoon, on the weekends, etc.
Charter Oak offers excellent programs with fantastic academic advisors, good professors, and helpful administrative staff. They ALL want you to succeed. If you’re a non-​traditional student (older, family obligations, etc.) take a serious look at Charter Oak.