Maryville University Online Experience Information Session

Angelica Frias: Hello everyone. Welcome to [inaudible 00:00:05] learning experience information center. Thank you for taking the time out of yourday to participate. My name is Angelica Frias, and I will be your moderator for today. Before we begin, I have a few logistics that I want to cover. First, you are in listen only mode, so the presentation is being broadcast through your speakers to avoid any background noise. Second, please feel free to ask questions as we go along. You can do so by typing into the Q&A box at the left side of your screen at any time throughout the session. If we do not get to your question today, an enrollment advisor will follow up with you directly. Third, you can watch his presentation on demand at any time using the same link you used to register. We will also follow up with an email after the presentation. Finally, feel free to use our resource list located on the left side of your screen to save any links that you would like to use after the Webinar.

Angelica Frias: Now, what will we cover? Well, on today’s agenda, we will introduce the presenters and talk a little bit about Maryville and who we are. Next we will review our online learning experience by presenting services offered by our students support and inside look into our learning platform and hear from one of our very own Maryville graduates. Finally, we will navigate through the admission process and then conclude with the live question and answer session. First, let’s meet our presenters. As I’ve mentioned, my name is Angelica Frias, and I am an enrollment adviser at Maryville University. I’ve been in education for close to 14 years, so I’m hoping that I can be of some great assistants to you all. I’m now excited to introduce, Ruth Suarez, enrollment adviser for Maryville University. Ruth would you mind sharing a little more about yourself?

Ruth Suarez: [inaudible 00:02:36]. Thanks Angelica. Hi everyone, my name is Ruth Suarez, and I’m a senior enrollment advisor here at Maryville University with our online program. A little bit about me. I have been in higher education for about seven years now and have been working with Maryville’s online programs for the past four. I look forward to working with all of you as you all take the next steps into this educational journey.

Angelica Frias: Awesome. Thank you Ruth. Next we have Erica Hulse. Erica Hulse is our student support specialist for Maryville University, and we’ll be hearing from Erica fairly soon when she discusses a few other points later in the presentation. We also have Pamela Bryan Williams. Pamela is our director of learning design and development for Maryville University and Pamela will be available to answer questions that any of you may have towards the end of the presentation. We also have finally, Almaze Austin, a 2019 masters in accounting graduate from Maryville University. Almaze will share her story with us in just a few minutes, and you’ll of course hear from more of our other presenters like I’ve mentioned later on in the presentation.

Angelica Frias: But first, we want to share a little more information about the history of Maryville with you before diving into other program information, other online services. So founded in 1872 in St. Louis Missouri, Maryville University is one of the oldest private nonprofit universities in the US. We started out as one of the first universities in the region to educate women and today we continue to push the boundaries and prepare students like all of you for a digital world. The University is regionally accredited by the higher learning commission, which is recognized by the US Department of Education and is also nationally ranked private college recognized for comprehensive and innovative education, focused on student learning outcomes and success both online and on campus. We have also been recognized as America’s top colleges by Forbes in 2018.

Angelica Frias: Best values in private colleges by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in 2018 among the nation’s top four fastest growing Universities by the chronicle of higher education in 2018. We are a US news and world report ranked school recognized for one of the best Universities in the US. Maryville believes in disrupting the higher education system and has been doing so for nearly 150 years. We believe that this is why we continue to maintain numerous corporate partnerships and have been named an apple distinguished school, which highlights the University’s enormous success in creating an innovative learning environment designed to engage students and support their academic achievement. We believe that learning is a personal, it’s very personal and as such, you should receive the support that you need every step of the way. We believe everything in the classroom should be challenging and everything outside of it should be easy. We pride ourselves on our supportive and attempt to faculty, and I’ve also streamlined the admission process and offer personalized support throughout your educational journey. So let’s go over some enrollment details.

Angelica Frias: Our online enrollments continue to grow with each semester. As of September 12, 2018 per hour student support group, our enrollments are approximately 9,350 students. The best part is the diversity amongst our student body. Currently our students represent 50 states and 55 countries. Our students take advantage of our degrees at an undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels with over 50 online degrees programs, which are 100% online. And over 115 on-campus degree programs. Now this is a great time to move on to discuss Maryville University’s online approach. Enrolling to earn a College degree is a big transition, and we want you to feel empowered through it all. That’s why we provide the support you need the way you need it. At Maryville, you’ll benefit from our faculty members, which are in large part of what makes us different, and the biggest reason our students are so successful. 90% of Maryville’s faculty hold a PhD or other terminal degrees.

Angelica Frias: Our faculty are professionals and leaders in their fields who bring their experience and knowledge into the classroom. Well, what makes them truly unique is that they’re about teaching first. They embody Maryville’s philosophy of measuring our success by yours, and they are invested in helping you excel in the classroom, in your career and beyond. Our enrollment advisors’ sole purpose is to partner with students to help them determine, to help you determine if Maryville University is a good fit and help you navigate the enrollment process. They serve as your main point of contact through the enrollment process up to the start of classes.

Angelica Frias: As an online student, you will be assigned a student support advisor to guide and assist you via convenient means like text, email or phone from enrollment through graduation. These advisors are here to assist you with questions, encourage you to face challenges and connect you to appropriate resources when you need them. When you earn your online degree at Maryville, you get the same quality education as our on-campus students. We don’t compromise when it comes to your academic excellence and everything we do is designed to be student centric, so you can be sure you have all the resources and support services you need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. At Maryville, we encourage student interaction and engagement. The small online class sizes allow for network in development of relationships with fellow students and distinguished faculty.

Angelica Frias: Our programs are fully asynchronous, which offers flexibility for working professionals and are accessible based on your convenience. This means that whether you would like to access your assignments at midnight or at 4:00 PM, you have the opportunity to do so. That being said, you will have deadlines that are set, so time management skills will be very necessary. Designed to accommodate the working professional, classes are offered in an eight week session online. Canvas is our learning management system, which is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week and puts your course reading articles, presentations, assignments, discussions and other types of learning activities at your fingertips. Each student participates in an orientation webinar prior to the start of classes to learn more about this system. Finally, if you’re always on the go or find it easier to access emails, discussions, syllabus et cetera, from your mobile device, you can do that too. You can take learning anywhere you go.

Angelica Frias: Now students also have access to a dedicated student support advisor. Everyone learns differently. That’s why we provide you with a support from a student advisor every step of the way. Together, we’ll learn your strengths and develop a plan that fits your needs. Your future is a personalized plan, your education should be too. As an online student, you will be assigned a student support advisor to guide in this sessions via convenient means of text, email and phone as mentioned before through enrollment, through graduation. These advisors are here to assist you with questions, encourage you to face your challenges and connect you to appropriate resources when you need them.

Angelica Frias: An online life coach team. Throughout your time at Maryville, a team of online life coaches will connect you to various academic career and campus resources. Your life coach team can support you with your academic and career needs to ensure your success during your time at Maryville and beyond. Whether it’s discussing academic success strategies or engaging in career coaching, online life coaches are there for you, so make sure you reach out to whenever you feel the need.

Angelica Frias: 24-hour technical support. Our programs are 100% online and as such we want to ensure that you have access to support at any time of the day, day or night. Our technical support is available via phone, chats, or by submitting a ticket.

Angelica Frias: A smart thinking platform. You have 24/7 academic support available to you through smart thinking. This tutoring service offers online 24/7 tutoring to help you any day at any time. Smart thinking is a tutoring service accessible from many Canvas courses. Our online tutoring provides you with easy access to expert tutors on demand or by appointments across a wide range of subjects.

Angelica Frias:  An online library. Appointments may be scheduled with a dedicated librarian for a one on one consultation online by person or in person.

Angelica Frias: A writing studio. You can also access writing resources that may help with developing a thesis statement, an introduction, a conclusion, conquering writer’s block and grammar and writing.

Angelica Frias: Canvas tutorials and guides. You will have an opportunity to participate in a live tutorial, which will allow you to not only familiarize yourself with our learning platform, but you can ask any questions that you have pertaining to our learning platform. You can find the link to our Canvas tutorial in the resource list located on the left side of your screen.

Angelica Frias: A Maryville [inaudible 00:14:52] community. You may not be attending classes on campus, but as an online student that Maryville, you’ll have a host of resources to help you succeed at every step of your educational journey. Whether it’s offering academic success strategies or engaging in a resume review, mock interview or career coaching. We have resources designed specifically for your needs. It is important to not forget your professors. Another great resource for questions on assignments, the course, your curriculum, your program careers that you’re considering.

Angelica Frias:  And finally, a student success hub. Undergraduate students have access to the student’s success hub in their Canvas dashboard. It is a collection of academic career and campus resources put together by the online life coach team. We want to make sure we set you up for your success, so please do not hesitate to ask us more about the many other services that we offer.

Angelica Frias: So now that you know what you would have access to as a student, let’s know a little bit more about our learning management platform and students’ success hub. To discuss in detail, Erica will help us take an inside look.

Erica Hulse: Thanks Angelica, and Hi everyone. I’m excited to share with you a little more about Canvas, which obviously is Maryville’s learning management platforms. Incoming undergraduate and graduate students here at Maryville have the opportunity to utilize what is often referred to as one of the most user friendly learning management systems available for students, Canvas. Through Canvas you’ll be able to navigate smoothly through your coursework as shown on this page. And let’s take a closer look at some of the areas within your course dashboard. First you’ll find a section entitled announcements. Course announcements are important for all students to review frequently.

Erica Hulse:  Professors often reach out about important changes to assignments or grading rubrics or just share relevant information that’s specific to your field of study. Also, you can check out the assignments section and there are lots of specific areas within this. As you can see there’s a section for the discussion board and also for quizzes. So whether you’re completing a discussion board, posting a written assignment or completing a quiz, you’re going to know exactly where to go to complete a particular assignment inside campus. Each area is clearly identifiable. The other left hand column of the dashboard for easy access so you can keep your focus on learning and not navigation.

Erica Hulse: Next I wanted to point out the people section. If you want to learn more about your fellow classmates, checking out the people section is a great way to not only read a brief biography about your fellow students, but there’s also a handy email link to message your classmates directly from Canvas. I always recommend the students to make use of this feature as it’s a really great way to connect with your classmates in an online setting.

Erica Hulse: I also wanted to point out the Panopto recordings. In some courses, professors might provide recordings of lectures or other presentations. If that is the case, this would be where those recordings could be accessed. I also wanted to point out the, my media and media gallery section, whether you’re submitting your own media such as a video presentation or another recording or viewing uploaded multimedia by your professor accessing media files are easy via Canvas. From these two areas, you can either review any media you may have uploaded or view those videos that may be uploaded by your professors to help supplement your learning.

Erica Hulse:  I also wanted to share with you a little more about our student success hub. One of our primary tools for undergraduate students success is the student success hub as we previously mentioned. As an online undergraduate student here at Maryville, you will always have access to the student success hub in your Canvas dashboard. While this module may look like another course, it’s actually a collection of academic career and campus resources put together by your online life coach team. Maryville life coaches are constantly adding resources to the hub, so we recommend that you log in often to see what’s new. Undergraduate students can find information on everything from smart thinking, study strategies, organizational tips, as well as personal counseling and disability accommodation services. Students should take advantage of this collection of resources since it’s always growing and improving. Career guidance is a big priority of the online life coach team. They’re prepared to discuss your individual career needs via career counseling, resume and cover letter review. Also, we’ll guide you on how to enhance your LinkedIn Profile and also assist in providing mock interview practice.

Erica Hulse:  I also wanted to share with you that the student success hub allows undergraduate students the opportunity to focus on achieving academic success by providing you helpful time management tools. In particular, the calendar located inside your dashboard is a helpful tool for staying on top of assignment deadlines and organizing your day. You may also use the student success hub resources to build a productive tailor made calendar based around spare time that you may have throughout the week. Additionally, many of these previously mentioned student support services in particular Maryville’s help desk, library and writing studio are all easily accessible directly from your Canvas dashboard. So at this time I would love to introduce Almaze Austin one of Maryville’s master of science in accounting students who will be graduating in August 2019. Almaze, I want to thank you so much for joining us this evening.

Almaze Austin: Thank you, Erica. Am glad for the invitation.

Erica Hulse: You’re welcome. Absolutely, I am excited to share with those who have joined us this evening, a little more about your experiences, what brought you to Maryville? And some of your takeaways as you wrap up and complete the program. I wanted to ask a few questions and I’d love to just start with finding out a little more about why you chose to return to school.

Almaze Austin: Okay. Well, I have had love and passion for accounting most of my life. I have an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and I have been working in accounting or some type of financial service related industry probably for the last 25 years. So in that journey, I knew I wanted a CPA designation, so I’m definitely on that path. But I looked up and I said, I enjoy servicing students and working with a diversity, diverse of a number of people, but I really wasn’t moving toward that [inaudible 00:22:49] at that time. Even with completing the bachelor’s, I can’t stop now. I’ve got to keep going. So in the midst of that I had to make a decision because I am a student with an a unique allergy because I am unable to be out around fragrance. I’m very allergic to fragrance.

Almaze Austin: So returning to school was like, oh, how can I do it? So I searched and searched and searched and Maryville just kept popping up and I said, this is completely online. It’s not a hybrid and things like that. And I looked and looked and I said, CPA prep included. I said this might be worth clicking on. So clicked on and right away Maryville was on it and everyone was very informative. And I felt at a last minute decision to do it because the next session we’re starting within two weeks. But I tell you the support of the administration and the graduate advisor that I was initially assigned to and then she transferred over me to you Erica. I mean, I just cannot thank you guys enough for being on top of it and addressing my concerns at that time to help you make the best informed decision at that time.

Almaze Austin: So, in a nutshell is maybe it had everything that I was looking for. I didn’t want to travel 45 minutes to an hour to campus. I didn’t want to have to worry about was I not going to be able to stay in the lecture the entire day. And again, then another year and a half away from my family, I am a mother of four boys. So they had already said, “When is it going to end?” I said, “It won’t, but we can make some changes.” So like I said, I felt that Maryville was a good fit. And as I am now coming toward the end of this experience, I have continued to be wild and not even considering like is there another program or something that can compliment my current master’s degree that I’m receiving because I really have enjoyed the platform of Maryville’s online program.

Erica Hulse: Excellent. Well I am so glad to hear that your experience has been so positive in that it’s been flexible with everything that you have going on with family and with the need for flexibility in your life from your education. I know you already shared with us this evening and a little more about why you chose Maryville, but I’d like to hear from you about what you feel has been the best feature of attending school online.

Almaze Austin: Convenient, it’s very flexible. I just mentioned that the platform, that structure is very important because I think online programming has come along way and several schools have tried to do it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done the way than Maryville is doing it. I telling you I have yet to set foot on Maryville’s campus until I had to go pick up my [inaudible 00:26:06] gown two weeks ago. And that is amazing. I have done everything else online and that’s truly what an online person would like to experience.

Almaze Austin: Being able to have every nice service electronically, they don’t have to worry about interrupting her regular schedule. They can multitask and not be worried about what commitments they have to break or anything like that. Or say, what am I going to miss or have I missed the target? Things like that. That was a great relief for me and not have to worry about, oh, I’ve got a scheduled time off from work. Oh, I got a breakfast over here. As I mentioned before that everything was completely electronic and I didn’t even have to come up to the school to speak to someone face to face to get my needs met.

Erica Hulse: Excellent. Well, thank you for sharing that. I know you’ve mentioned a couple of times that you really felt like the Maryville’s administration was there for you and your student advisor as well. Can you provide some examples of how you have most felt supported on this academic journey?

Almaze Austin: Definitely. One of the things that I must add to again me just being appreciative of what Maryville is doing is if I was a student that really had not been exposed to well the higher education, some of the backend processes, this will be even more important when I’m about to share is that I’m a nontraditional student. Even though you’re not sitting in a class face to face with your peer, that can tend to be some frictions on bias or whatnot that you may experience. How do you go about handling that? Some people are not so good, some people may decide to just completely come out of the program even though they have never met the person, but that wasn’t the case. I have a mission.

Almaze Austin: So I reached out to my advisor and presented the situation after I had already talked to my instructor and the instructor was very responsive who not only me inquiry but the nature of the situation and to provide an alternative for me to continue on and then also address the and professional manner. So that’s one of the things that is very near and dear to me as far as Maryville being able to deliver as far as service and making all our students feel part of the campus community and saying that we’re here for you. There shouldn’t be any type of bias or anything like that. So that one big thing that I’ve experienced that I felt was near and dear to me.

Almaze Austin: The other thing was I think I had a few questions maybe a delay on department. And I didn’t get a response when I thought I should’ve gotten it maybe in three days and maybe it took them a little longer, but turns out that reaching out to my advisor, they were able to second would that department, someone responded to me right away. You went actually the, I think the manager of that area and gave me an assurance that everything was being taken care of and the reason for the delay. So again, it was something that you have more time sensitive than others and I didn’t want to be in a panic mode. So again, the administration has been very responsive and student services as well to making sure everything is being taken care of in a timely manner.

Erica Hulse: Wonderful. Well thank you for sharing that as well. I wanted to touch on something that can be very challenging for a lot of students. Because many students are struggling to balance families and classwork and the time management piece of a online learning can be a challenge. And I know you shared that you have four boys, so I know you stay very busy. Tell me a little more about how you effectively managed your time through your courses here at Maryville.

Almaze Austin: Well that is definitely a seat. I’ve been doing it for so long. I actually just require and I drive my family nuts with it. So If it’s not on the schedule, I’m a very open communicator. I almost demand please communicate with me. Even if you think it our blanket, please write it down or email it to me so I can have something to reach back to or even refer back to. I’m a very email intensive and I’ll tend to follow up with things verbally just to make sure I’m getting some type of assurance. So looking at a schedule, keep it on the calendar weather on my phone or on a piece of paper, [inaudible 00:31:37] putting things in multiple places.

Almaze Austin: As I say, okay, I need this reminder, I need to do this. Where do I need to be in finding out what can be changed if I need to move something or I found that once I take care of my family and I’ve done my 40 hours a week, are my eight hour day or 10 hours, sometimes longer. Sometimes I’ll do [inaudible 00:32:01] shift. I’ll do some shift in the morning. I’ll come and take care of home. I will get that settle, I’ll do some work and then I’ll then maybe the later part of the night logging in the Canvas. The hardest part for me was because I recharge at midnight. So if I’m still doing work, anything due on a Sunday night, I have to make sure I get a headstart because it’s all due at 11:59. So I think for me that was the biggest challenge.

Almaze Austin: But again, I had to have everything laid out and I need to know where it all fits. So the core of my course was pretty rivulets of a little bit of getting used to. But now for the latter part, now with the CPA prep, with the one of my first section I didn’t know what to expect. I was very nervous. Turns out it was easy breathing, but at the same time there was some things I did learn in that first eight weeks that I learned that in that module. Okay. It’s a borehole look ahead and some of your core classes, it doesn’t really give you that preview of what to expect. But in this particular hub section of classes, I was allowed to do that. So that allowed me to better plan and manage the time even more efficiently. So always keep that in mind. You’d have to know yourself.

Almaze Austin: Also know what are the priorities for is your main thing if you’re working, there are some people that are not working. There are some people that all they do is just go to school. So and maybe a little different. You also want to make sure there are some recreation in there because that was one of the things my 10 year old set, he said, “mum when were you not doing school?” And I said, “I don’t know, but I’m to pick a day just for you guys and we’re gonna squeeze it again.” So though that always makes me chuckle and say, I know I’m doing this for something greater, but at the same time I let them know you will come and hang out with me via even read the questions with me. So basically you got to mix it up and know yourself first, but then also make sure you include everybody that’s supporting you. If you have that, those priorities in line.

Erica Hulse: Excellent. I love the point that you’re making about remembering who you are doing this for and taking time for yourself and family to kind of help you recharge. I have another question for you. I’d like to learn a little more about what you feel is the biggest challenge that you faced during your program here at Maryville. And how did you overcome that?

Almaze Austin: My biggest challenge, well it’s not knowing what to expect. I just briefly mentioned when I first got into a few of the classes again even though it was all online, every eight weeks seem to be different. But again the platform then also reaching out to the instructor then their response time and feedback settled that nervousness very quickly. Oh, for me and knowing that if I had a question or a concern, if I send the email that they were very responsible and very understanding of there was something that arise. So aside from me having my own, allergies at least three of my children have their own. So we spent several moments where I was not able to do something when I was supposed to do it. So that support not only by my family, but also from the Maryville administration, the faculty, that made a difference.

Almaze Austin:  It really made a difference because again, knowing all the things that I’m trying to balance and I want to balance it well. I actually want to be perfect at it, but I know that’s not ideal, but I’m going to do my best, but not to let that get away from me and control my nervousness to a point where I get so nervous that I’ll fail. I don’t want to do that. I’ve come too far. I have decided on a plan I want to see it through and you stick with, if you don’t know, make sure you ask, you will feel a lot better. That nervousness will we eventually go away. So like I said, I feel I’m quite comfortable toward the end of the program and again I just can’t say enough about it to anyone. I think I’ve already told three people say hey, you might want to check out Maryville [inaudible 00:37:13] Proud of Maryville right now.

Erica Hulse: So yeah, pretty proud of you too.

Almaze Austin: Yeah. Thank you.

Erica Hulse: Well I say thank you so much for sharing that insight with us. I think it’s important for other students to see, just from your perspective, what to expand and those daily challenges that come up. Right. Again that insight. Thank you for that motivation. That’s definitely in prisons making me go back to school too.

Almaze Austin: I know. They were like, you’re doing what I said. Yeah. I’m talking to my advisor about which one of these two programs I want to do it very well. And they’re like, yeah, I’ll say, oh my doing. But hello.

Ruth Suarez:  Okay, well thank you again Almaze and thank you Erica as well. So now I wanted to take the time to speak a little bit more about the admissions process. I saw what I wanted to cover was a little bit more about transcripts, application tips, tuition and financial aid. So for those deciding I’m taking the next steps. Here are the admissions requirements. GPA requirements will be based on a 4.0 scale. The minimum requirements will vary based on the program you’re applying for. I would suggest after this Webinar, please schedule an appointment to speak with your enrollment advisors so they can cover those specific details with you. Also some really good, great news. There are no entrance exams required, so that would include no SAT or ACT is for the undergraduate programs or no GMAT or GRE requirements for the graduate level programs.

Ruth Suarez:  But if you are fine to some of the basketball over programs, if you have earned your associate’s degree, this also may satisfy our general education requirements. So it’s very important to connect with your advisor to get those transcripts evaluated. And it is important to note that the acceptance of transfer credits is entirely at the discretion of the registrar’s office after receiving the transcript from the institution. Now based off of these program of interest, there may be some additional requirements that aren’t mentioned here, which is why I encourage you to reach out to your enrollment advisor. It’s super important for you to connect with one of them to go over more specifics.

Ruth Suarez: Now, for our application process, it’s an easy three step process. Step one would be to complete the free online application form. The link will be provided below in our resource section at the bottom of your screen. I can also access it by reaching out to your enrollment advisor they will email that link to you. The application step will take maybe 10, 15 minutes. It’ll go over your basic background information. Second step would be to request your official transcripts. For some of the programs you only all official transcripts from every institution attended.

Ruth Suarez: It is important to remember that your enrollment advisor is here to assist you if you need additional help obtaining these transcripts and electronic transcripts are always preferred. If you’re interested in a graduate level program, step three will be to submit a statement of purpose, the statement of purpose. Think of this as your bold statement. Talk about why you’re looking to pursue your degree and what your ultimate goal is and how this degree will help you get there. Once again, there are no entrance exams are application fees to apply. But again, based off of the program of interest, there may be some additional steps and documents needed. Your enrollment advisor will be there to help you make sure everything is submitted and we’ll work with you to create the strongest application possible.

Ruth Suarez: Now as we go through these next steps, we do have a few tips as enrollment advisors who would like to share. One is to get started early on requesting your transcripts. Some schools may take longer than others in processing your requests and sending your transcripts to Maryville, especially for the fourth semester. This is the busiest time of the year. It’s your traditional fourth start. So making sure that we get everything in before the deadline and having a little bit of a waiting period is definitely encouraged. If you’re applying to undergraduate program and you think you have less than 60 college credits, request your high school transcripts as well. After high school you’ve attended or enrolled in any other institution, those transcripts that we needed too. If you’re a militarY those transcripts will be needed as well as any test scores such as any CLEP or AP scores that you would like to be considered for transfer credit orders. Your enrollment advisor will help you request any of these if you need assistance.

Ruth Suarez: Although transcripts may be emailed or mailed by the institution, electronic transcripts are always preferred. Many times these electronic transcripts may be found via parchment, the most widely adopted digital credential services along the students to request transcripts. Electronic transcripts ensures that they arrive quickly and you’ll still get a receipt on whether or not we’ve received them. If they don’t offer electronic transcripts, they can be mailed to our offsite admissions center. You can find the parchment link in the resources located on the left side of your screen as well.

Ruth Suarez: As mentioned earlier, you can access the online application on the bottom left side of your screen under the resources section. When prompted to indicate your student type, please ensure that you are selecting the online options. An admissions checklist may also be found in the resource section. This will provide the requirements that have been listed today. Finally, if you need one on one time with your enrollment advisor, please schedule an appointment from the resource list as well. This will allow us to discuss admissions process, financial aid options, transfer credits, program formats, or any other questions that you have. Remember, as enrollment advisers, we’re here to not only help you through the process, but to make sure that we’re helping you enroll into a program and a program that’s going to be best suited for you and your goals.

Ruth Suarez:  Now, many of you have been waiting on this section to be discussed. So tuition and financing options. The cost per credit hour at Maryville varies depending on the program. I would definitely recommend reaching out to your enrollment advisor as soon as possible so we can cover those details. But when speaking to your enrollment advisor, make sure to disclose your employer. If your employer is a corporate partner, there may be some discomfort applied. There’s also a onetime fee per semester. This fee covers your access to all services and resources including technology, transcripts and graduation. Let’s see what also vary by program.

Ruth Suarez: We do offer a few financing options, helping students finance their education. The most commonly used one is FAFSA, Federal Student Loans programs is available for those students who are applying, qualify. We do offer monthly payment arrangements as well if you’re looking to pay out of pocket. If your employer offers tuition reimbursement or tuition assistance. Definitely something that we accept. Military benefits or private loans as well. Some students do a combination of a few of these options.

Angelica Frias: All right, well, thank you so much Ruth. At this time we would like to answer some questions that have come up through our Q&A section. So as we’re going through these questions please do not hesitate to continue adding more. This’ll be your time to obtain as much information and further clarification on anything that’s been presented. So let’s start off with our first question which is, my GPA is very low due to a past mistakes to pass the stakes, so will this affect my ability to enroll?

Ruth Suarez: Yeah, I can answer that one. So GPA requirements, there are minimum GPA requirements for each individual program. One thing I would definitely suggest would be to connect with your enrollment advisor to see exactly where that GPA falls. If it’s an undergraduate program. Some of those GPA requirements are 2.0. If you fall below that mark, it’s not an automatic, no. Like I mentioned earlier, there’s things that we can really do to strengthen your application. We’re not only going to make that judgment based off of your GPA, we’re going to look at each individual student as a whole. They’re looking at their work experience, how long ago those credits were. We have an opportunity to write a GPA and I’m really advocating for yourself as a student and explaining the skillsets that you have now in order to be successful within the program. I definitely encourage you to still apply.

Angelica Frias: Great. Thank you so much, Ruth. Let’s take a look at our next one. Almaze, are you still on the line with us?

Almaze Austin: Yes, I am.

Angelica Frias: Okay, great. I actually, there’s a question that is specific to you. It asks, I am curious as to why you are at the end of your academic career. Did you think it was a good financial investment?

Almaze Austin: Yes, I was trying to answer it on the Q&A and I didn’t quite get it to send correctly, so I’m glad you’ve got that one next. So yes, it was a very good investment. Like I said, it was something I already had on my list to do. I just have to figure out where I was going to do with that. For the end of now, my program is, I was very nervous about whether or not I will be a good fit to sit and be successful in the CPA exam. But Maryville has provided all the things and above that I can imagine even I think the additional resource [inaudible 00:47:51] go beyond me completing the program or I can continue to self study if I choose to take the exams or later within a certain window. So again, whether I sat with a bachelors and then go to a master’s and then finish with a CPA, that investment is definitely going to be well worth it.

Almaze Austin: So I’ll have a lot more options for me to move around if I would like to stay in the accounting area. But I also have another ultimate goal if I really have a passion for accounting information system. And that would be one of the doctoral programs that I’ve already been looking into. So I have this plan with the list of the things that if I get there, great. So right now I felt that this investment was well worth it and I cannot wait to see where it takes me while I’m preparing to sit for the sections of the CPA exam. Thank you for asking.

Angelica Frias: Yeah. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. We’re actually very curious to see how that goes as well. So we’re excited for you to keep in touch with us and let us know how that next step goes as well.

Almaze Austin: Definitely.

Angelica Frias: Thank you so much. All right. So we also have our next question. It asks, I think someone said that the sessions are eight weeks long. Is this for every semester? Erica, would you mind helping us out with that one?

Erica Hulse:  Sure. So at Maryville, we do operate on a semester schedule. Each semester is a total of 16 weeks. Within that semester, you will have two terms. An A term and a B term. A term only lasts for eight weeks. So it really depends on your specific program. For many programs, each course will only last for an eight week period. However, there are some programs where an individual course we’ll spend an entire semester or 16 weeks. So if you want more specifics on that, you would definitely want to follow up with your enrollment advisor who would be able to more clearly outlined that in terms of how long your classes might last if they would be an eight week course or a 16 week course.

Angelica Frias: Great. Thank you so much Erica. All right, we have another question. It asks, do you except College class credits from other online colleges? So to answer that question, Maryville University considers credits coming from other regionally accredited institution. So that would be the first thing we would need to determine is whether the institution you’re transferring from or institutions you’re transferring from are regionally accredited. If they are, the acceptance of transfer credits are up to our evaluation team, our register’s office. So it is very very important, like Ruth had mentioned earlier on, to not only order your transcripts, but to make sure to submit those as soon as possible so that our register’s office can review them and they can determine not only if those credits can transfer over or if we can consider them but also how many of those credits can actually transfer over.

Angelica Frias: Okay. So next one. It asks, I graduated high school over 20 years ago and have taken classes here and there for over the years at various universities. I have been working in my career for 19 years at this point. Is there any way to get some credit for work history or professional certifications?

Ruth Suarez:  Yeah, I can go ahead and answer that one. So with Maryville’s Program, we will take into consideration, college credits that you’ve taken any AP credits or club exams that you’ve done. Unfortunately for work history, that’s something that we would not use for college credits, but for some of the programs. Depending on the certification that you might have, it might be able to substitute some of those courses for additional courses to really give you more of a well rounded perspective of that industry that you want to go into. Again, I would definitely encourage you to reach out to your enrollment advisor to get into more specifics on the certifications that you have or a program that you’re looking into, so we can definitely answer that question more on an individual level.

Angelica Frias:  Great. Thank you so much Ruth. All right, let’s see if we can look for another. Wait one second. Okay. So how do I find out who my enrollment advisor is? So in the resource list that you will find on the left side of your screen, you will actually find links to what we call [inaudible 00:53:22] calendars and you will have an opportunity to actually schedule a day and time that works best for you. And what that ends up doing for you or how this helps you is that we will to begin with, we’ll pair that day in that time availability with an advisor who’s available at that time, on that day.

Angelica Frias: So that advisor will reach out to you and they would introduce themselves. They would share their contact information with you and moving forward they would be your main point of contact, so that it’s only one person you’re reaching out to. So highly encourage you to make sure that you set up an appointment using that [inaudible 00:54:12] schedule link and we’ll definitely make sure to assist you and to link you up with an available adviser.

Angelica Frias: Okay. The next question is, when is the deadline for application for the fall semester? So right now, to answer that question, right now, we’re actually currently working on our summer two semester, summer two session. That is actually the next two days basically. it’s going to be June 3rd. That is our priority deadline at this point. So if you are looking to get started as soon as possible, highly encourage you to seek out your adviser, start working on requesting your transcripts, completing those applications. And then of course finding out if there’s any additional documentation that you may need based on the program.

Angelica Frias: If you are interested in fall, that will be the next full semester like Ruth had mentioned. That deadline will not happen until the end of July. So there’s still a little bit more time for that. But as Erica and Ruth had both mentioned, if you know that this is what you want to do, we highly encourage not to wait till the last minute. When it comes to transcripts, a lot of that will fall under how long other institutions will take to actually send those over. So our successful students, once they’re ready to take those next steps, will have this completed all in a matter of a week. So we want to make sure we’re helping you out with that.

Angelica Frias:  All right. Well, we really appreciate all these questions. We actually see that there’s a lot of other questions, but just to be respectful of everyone’s time, we will close out the Q&A portion of our webinar. Again, thank you to everyone who submitted a question. If anyone has any more questions that they think of later, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. If we did not get to your question today, once again, our enrollment advisors will reach out to you and follow up with you individually. If you look at the resources section on the left side of your screen, you’ll see a couple of different resources available to you. Once again, you can schedule an appointment with an advisor to go over the program, access your online application, our online checklist and many other resources. I do also ask that you please complete a brief two minutes survey also located in the resource section.

Angelica Frias: This will let us know what worked well and what you’re interested in learning more about for any following webinars. We do want to once again, call your attention to the summer 2019 application deadline, which is on Monday, June 3rd. It is not too early to get started, so please feel free to begin working on your enrollment process. Thank you again for taking the time out of your day to join us. Thanks again to our wonderful presenters as well. We hope that you found this webinar useful and look forward to speaking to you soon. Have a great day everyone.