University of Maryland University College

They screwed me on my 1098t because I used tuition assistance, and everyone else in my unit received one even though they used tuition assistance and fafsa. Also, the professors who work here must have several other jobs because they don’t reply to students and barely review work. It’s unstructured.

UMUC admissions is ridiculous. They «require» an unrefundable and non-​waiverable $ 50 «application fee» that only sends them your application.
If you are Civil Service they will refund the $ 50, however, its ridiculous to have to pay $ 50 just to submit an app.

I graduated from UMUC and enjoyed many aspects of my education. I always had wonderful advisors and many of the instructors were well knowledge on the subjects they taught. Good school especially for those who are working.

This school has a reputation for being military friendly, and also was one of the first online universities to offer a CyberSecurity Program. These two things are the main reasons why I decided to pursue an education here.
That being said, there are certain things that are absolutely unacceptable and downright disappointing.
The good — The fact that you can work on your homework anytime, and that there is no set schedule is great. I have also had the opportunity to take some classes with some top notch instructors that were not only working in the same field they teach, but took the time to actually be truly involved in every students work (meaning they actually read every post and every assignment submitted and provided specific feedback) Most of the professors are reasonable when it comes to utilizing common sense (in regards to due dates, extensions, etc.)
The bad —
–There are some professors who apparently are absentee landlords. Their syllabus has incorrect dates. Their syllabuses do not match their «weekly schedules», or «to do lists», and instead of taking the time to correct issues like this when the students bring it to their attention, they just sideskirt the issue and usually tell the students to default to the syllabus (even when the syllabus still has missing or incorrect information). These are also the same types of professors who will respond to your emails or questions way too late (the classes run in 8 week sessions… I’ve had times when I emailed a professor the middle of one week, and they respond 1 to 2 weeks later — after everything is already turned in) UMUC does not seem to do much in regards to holding their professors accountable to their own guidelines even when given proof that their professors are not meeting them. These are also the same professors who give completely worthless feedback on your posts and assignments (comments like «great job» or «needs work — see rubric»)
–The whole concept of an online class requires that you the student have an internet connection and the ability to get online, but also that the college have their online site/​class/​labs/​turn in the assignment server available. I can confidently say (after attending for one year) that there are many times when their system is down, or when certain sites, or labs have technical issues. This would not be such a big deal if extensions were given for the down time on their end (a handful of professors are fair and work with you if you provide proof that you attempted to submit an assignment or you screenshot an error on their site)
HOWEVER some professors just don’t care. To really drive home this point, lets say you work full time, or you are deployed, or you only have 2 – 3 days off a week to really spend a lot of time doing homework. I feel confident saying that most people logically submit homework on the day it’s due (not days before especially when they are 8 week sessions). SO… if the systems down on the day the works due, some professors will just give you big fat zero’s on all your work…
–The other thing that just doesn’t make sense to me is that you could be taking two classes at the same time, and different professors have different due dates. Meaning that one professor wants to run their class mon thru sun (assignments due on Sun) and the other professor wants to run their class thur thru fri (assignments due on Fri). This combined with different schedules for posting discussions just makes everything unnecessarily confusing and complicated. Most of the students I’ve been in class with agree that having initial posts due friday, and all homework and response posts due Sunday is what makes sense for the MAJORITY of students.
–This is advice for military only… unfortunately there are some professors who will not accommodate extreme situations in regards to homework/​assignment due dates. You would think if you are deployed, or if you literally don’t have access to internet for days at a time, that occasionally you might get an extension on deadline. Like I mentioned before, some professors do, and some professors refuse. It’s crazy that the same guidelines would apply for a person stateside with internet at home and on every corner compared to a person in Iraq or Afghanistan etc.
P. S. If by chance someone from UMUC actually reads this and wants to respond or address some of these issues, I would be happy to provide you my contact information.

Non-​Profit diploma mill… save your money/​GI Bill and go to a real school.

I am not sure if UMUC admissions or administrators read these reviews, but if they happen across this page — message me and I will be happy to further share what my experience was like trying to enroll as a graduate student at your institution.
For those of you reading this and not affiliated with UMUC and maybe thinking or enrolling, try getting correct and timely information from anyone in Admissions before spending your money on application fees and tuition.
There are far too many options for customer service to be this poor.

Speaking only of the education and not the landscaping… I received my masters about 5 years ago from UMUC. At the time, it seemed like a great idea. Complete your degree in an online format. Now that I’m reflecting on my education, I find myself embarrassed to have attended this institution. I really never connected with any of the instructors. Oftentimes, the instructors would simply post up the weekly assignments, which predominantly included reading of the textbooks and writing essays. The problem with this school… the teachers aren’t encouraged to participate. I often felt like I was just turning in a paper without ever receiving any «instruction» or personal anecdotes. Professors weren’t very good about grading your work, which meant weeks would go by without finding out how you are excelling. The whole experience felt very similar to working with only a teachers aide. Maybe the structure has improved, but now as I reflect on my choice of school… I feel as I taught myself and paid UMUC for the certificate. If you are considering a school, really do your research… it is a lot of your money!

Slight update on university of Maryland university college; university of Maryland university college did eventually make an adjustment on my disputed charge after I showed them the required proof from bank of America that I paid the 2011 charge in January 2013. As of October 2014, A letter was typed confirming that all my balances are now brought up to date and that I no longer carry outstanding balances with the school. However, im still hesitant to return back to umuc, despite having great teachers, because I had to get the federal va involved as an outside mediator to the situation before it was finally resolved. I still stand by what I say when I emphasized that this school is mainly for federal employees, military people who are going to make the armed services a career, or military people who are already retired and just need to go to the school as an extra credential. If you are outside of any of these three groups I would gently recommend going to this school for just 1 – 3 semesters first and then see how you feel before committing wholeheartedly.

Instructors are good, very flexible and friendly. Administration is soooo terrible though. I called about the same thing three times, and emailed about it once… Guess how many different answers I received? Three. Different. Answers. Was it resolved? NO. If I wasn’t so close to getting my degree I would just go to Montgomery College or something… My two other friends had the same terrible experiences with billing and admin at this «University».
You guys need to do a better job of being organized.

Big, pretty landscaping, safe feel to it. I don’t go there, so I can’t comment on faculty of education quality. :)

I got both my BS in CompSci and my MBA there about 14 years apart. I had a great experience both times and am considering a second masters from there as well. UMUC is one of the largest schools that cater to military all over the world and working adults. They provide a great education in an ethical fashion. I would highly recommend considering a UMUC program if your circumstances make on-​campus, full-​time attendance difficult.

The instructors tend to be great, but the Administration could be replaced with trained primates and have better results.
They took 2 years to complete a degree evaluation so I would know what courses I still required. They change my faculty adviser every 6 months. They decided to scam me into retaking English 101 when I was already a senior.
Cannot recommend UMUC.