Hello,

I have a Associates Degree from a traditional community college, and I am interested in getting a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology. My career goal is to be a Network Administrator. I am quite well versed in computers already. I currently do not have any Information Technology degrees or certifications.

From everything I have read on forums and websites, it seems that both WGU and Excelsior are excellent online institutions. So I was wondering which of these two institutions would those of you on these forums recommend more, and why?

Thank you.

I would have to say WGU because they also included the price of several IT certifications with the degree, so as you are working on your degree, you earn several IT certs which can be useful:
http://www.wgu.edu/online_it_degrees...hnology_degree

WGU may be cheaper than Excelsior also, Excelsior is a good place, if you want to test out of some subjects and earn a degree sort of quickly, but the fees may get you in the end.

There are plenty of places to earn a bachelors degree in information technology. You can try elearners.com to research this further:

http://www.elearners.com/programs/Computers.htm

Or geteducated.com to find some reasonably priced IT degrees:
http://www.geteducated.com/profiles/... %252Bsystems

__________________
Ed.D Should complete in 2011

M.S. , M.Ed. ,
Director of Online Faculty Training and Management, Online Adjunct, Online Instructional Technologist, and Course Designer

I am thinking that I will probably join Capella University, because from the research I have done, they seem to have one of the best Information Technology Bachelor's programs out there.

What was the research that you conducted? Not knocking Capella, I am attending there myself for my doctorate. Their bachelor degree programs are very costly. They are charging almost 800 per 100 to 200 level course and anywhere from 1,000 to 1700 for an upper level course:
http://www.capella.edu/inc/pdf/tuition_chart.pdf

Of course its your choice, but there are much cheaper options available.

__________________
Ed.D Should complete in 2011

M.S. , M.Ed. ,
Director of Online Faculty Training and Management, Online Adjunct, Online Instructional Technologist, and Course Designer

Quality is much more important to me. I am not looking for the cheapest online institution.

Of course its your choice, but spending anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000 on a bachelors degree from Capella just does not make much sense, since there are plenty of other institutions that offer the same program and just more reasonably priced. Since you already have an associates degree, you would probably start taking upper courses at Capella, which are $325 per credit, which each course being 6 credits each, that's $1950 per course. In your original post you mentioned that you wanted to become a network administrator. You would benefit more from earning some IT certifications. Especially the CCNA from Cisco or the MCSE from Microsoft, not to mention the many others that are out there.

__________________
Ed.D Should complete in 2011

M.S. , M.Ed. ,
Director of Online Faculty Training and Management, Online Adjunct, Online Instructional Technologist, and Course Designer

Thanks for your opinion, but Capella's IT program seems really good to me. And I am not sure if I am going to specialize in Network Administration. I just know that I want a degree in Information Technology, and that's why I am considering the Bachelor's in Information Technology - General Information Technology degree that Capella offers. That way I keep my options open.

No one will care where you got your degree. They will be looking at what cert's you have on your resume.

From everything I have heard and read, I personally think that a degree is more valuable than certs. But I am sure that certs are also very beneficial.

It depends on which area of IT and the situation. My last position was that of director of technology and media. We had to hire someone who had an MCSE due to an enterprise agreement we had with Microsoft. When I worked in hospital IT our network engineer also had to hold certain certifications due to enterprise agreements. I have always hired IT professionals who acutally worked in the field and had experience. All the degrees and certifications in the world do not matter if the person can not resolve the issue.

__________________
Ed.D Should complete in 2011

M.S. , M.Ed. ,
Director of Online Faculty Training and Management, Online Adjunct, Online Instructional Technologist, and Course Designer