A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Poll: A $38,000 course? - me3

Posted: Apr 06, 2013

For the posters here looking into other fields of employment and/or courses, what would you do if you were contimplating getting into a field that you were not thoroughly in the know about, and an online university offered a couse in that field for $38,000?

poll - saywhat

[ In Reply To ..]
Why are you being so vague? How can anybody give a creditable answer when you just say "a course". If you are the one asking about spending $38,000 for an "MT" course, then I think you will SINCERELY regret it unless you get coding thrown in too, or RHIT or something. I'm not "thoroughly in the know" about Sociology but I can get my CSW for way less than $38,000, $38,000 for an MT course is beyond ludicrous.

If you are spending 38,000 bucks, - you should be getting

[ In Reply To ..]
more than a "course." Even nowadays this should get you almost 2 years in a decent university.

should be getting a masters degree! - mind boggling

[ In Reply To ..]
It's unconscionable! How can they do that!?

Kaplan and other for-profit colleges - dubious

[ In Reply To ..]
These institutions typically leave students with a high amount of debt upon graduating. I would probably look into a course at a community college, which would be considerably less expensive.

I agree - WJC

[ In Reply To ..]
I would compare to your community college.

For comparison - PA-C

[ In Reply To ..]
My physician assistant training cost $30,000. It was 28 months total and included a Master's Degree. My current salary is $127,000. Paying $38,000 for an MT "degree", which was discussed earlier on this board, is not cost effective, especially since the poster who is taking the course is probably paying for it with student loans.

I think I would compare it to my local university - if I had one

[ In Reply To ..]
I recently went through this with my roomie. She went through the dental assistant course at PIMA medical college but for a variety of reasons didn't pass the radiograph test and you have to have that certification to get a job. This was all before I knew her. She has $11,000 in student debt now and is working at 7-11 for $8 an hour. She is trying to get in to see one of the career people at PIMA to see about auditing what she needs to go back and pass, but they're not very helpful. They've already got her money. She thought about the dental hygenist course (which PIMA has as "new" on their website) and she said the guy told her it was $52,000. No, that's not a typo. Fifty Two Thousand Dollarsr. You can get a bachelors degree from the University of New Mexico (which is 7 miles away from me) for $24k a year and maybe push it to $30 with books, etc.,

I think if you're gonig to consider one of those courses, you really need to look at the school's placement office and their placement statistics. I don't think anyone from PIMA has called my roomie and said "hey, you didn't finish, what can we do to help you." For $11k I would expect and even demand something like that. If whatever school you are contemplating doesn't have 100% placement in the field for their graduates, they need to have a very good reason why.

I would be very careful - see msg

[ In Reply To ..]
It's way too vague. "A course" is one course. Does these mean to go into the field you'd only have to take "a course," or several courses at $38,000 each? That could seriously add up.

I would also seriously check the opportunities for the given field---where it's going. You need some sort of unbiased projection (NOT from the school) on what to expect in terms of job security in that particular field. I'd want to have at least a 10-year projection---certainly at the very least 5 and how much per year you can expect to make.

If you don't expect to make the $38,000 back within the first year or two of employment on the new job, I'd give that a big fat no.

Can you tell us more about this "mystery job?"

This is a continuation - of the discussion below

[ In Reply To ..]
concerning the poster who has just started an MT "degree" program that costs $38,000.

A tasteless thread - be very careful

[ In Reply To ..]
Why don't you just address the issue in her post below.

I think you already know the answer to your little poll.

I think your little poll is in bad taste since we all know you are talking about the poster below.

agree - nm

[ In Reply To ..]

I would keep on looking. $38K is ridiculous and - predatory - taking advantage of hard times.

[ In Reply To ..]
:(

Get advice before signing up - Just say no

[ In Reply To ..]
Ivy League universities are worth $38,000 a year.

"Courses" and 2-year associate's programs are not worth that much. You can't get a job that pays enough to repay your loans.

You are being taken for a ride because they figure you are too stupid to know better. They prey on people who do not know how to get into community colleges.

You don't need to ask us about this. Just google "diploma mill."

If you can't take the advice already given, then you deserve what happens. Some people only learn by making disastrous mistakes. You may be one of them.

Chances are you won't finish it anyway. If you do, no MTSO will hire you; they only hire from Andrews or M-TEC. No hospital will hire you; they recognize diploma mills when they see them.

Maybe - She...

[ In Reply To ..]
...doesn't know the difference between 38,000 and 3800? That's a possibility. If that's the case, she shouldn't be taking that course anyway, and certainly not any course for that matter.

You can easily google Kaplan's tuition to confirm that it is over $30,000. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Which several of us already confirmed in the original thread.

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