Southern New Hampshire University

Southern New Hampshire University

Southern New Hampshire University is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution with more than 3,000 on campus students, over 135,000 online students, making it one of the fastest growing universities in the nation.

SNHU Highlights

• 135k+ student enrollment
• 100+ Bachelor's Degrees + large variety of other degrees to choose from
• Cost per credit $330 (less cost compared to most schools with no books to buy)
• Transfer up to 90 credits to the university towards a degree
• For IT degrees, many industry certificates are accepted for credit. One certificate can count for many courses.
• Student feedback is good. (write papers for each class, no proctoring & grading isn't hard)
• Easy to manage schedule of classes
• 18yr students and international students accepted
• Named most innovative university by U.S. News & World Report 3 years in a row

What Type of Students Would Be Interested in SNHU?

• Students wanting a traditional online program verses CBE
• Students that need a specific degree that isn't easy to obtain elsewhere
• Students getting employer reimbursement, Pell Grant, parents, etc so that money isn't the biggest issue
• Students under 20 that can't get into UMPI
• It’s a relatively easy school to pump up your grades to help get into a good grad school

How Classes And Terms Work for SNHU

• Terms for SNHU are 2 months.
• You can transfer credits after you are enrolled. Courses typically are not that long and require 4-8hrs of work per week per course. Papers and discussion posts are generally due every Sunday, except the first discussion post.
• Assignments are due every Sunday. Assignments are mostly papers around 1000 words and forums posts around 500 words. The final paper can be 2-3k words. Some courses such as math courses will have non-proctored quizzes, tests and projects. Sometimes they allow retakes on quizzes and exams up to 3 times.
• Expect to spend around 4-8 hours a week per course. You can work ahead on assignments though it is not recommended to turn them in before the due date because many professors place a grading emphasis on your ability to incorporate their feedback into your assignments. You would want to work 1-2 weeks ahead in case of an emergency or an upcoming vacation.

Grading Is Heavily Weighted in the Student’s Favor

Graduation Stats From 2017

• no honors: 100/201 = 49.8%
• cum laude: 37/201 = 18.4% (3.500- 3.699 GPA)
• magna cum laude: 12/201 = 6.0% (3.700- 3.849 GPA)
• summa cum laude: 52/201 = 25.9% (3.850- 4.000 GPA)
• all honors: 101/201 = 50.2%

SNHU Professor Quote:

"The rubrics are ridiculously weighted in the students favor in many instances. For example the options may be 30, 28, 25, or 0."

It would be rare to receive a 0 score. If you get a low grade on an assignment, many professors will give you 2nd, 3rd chances to turn in the assignments for a higher grade.

DO NOT TURN IN A LATE ASSIGNMENT OR YOU WILL MOST LIKELY LOSE 10%

How Long Does It Take to Get a Degree at SNHU?

Similar to going to other colleges, you first gather up all your credits before taking courses at SNHU.

Full-time is 2 courses for each 2 month term, and part-time is 1 course. So for the first 2 terms, the most courses you can take are 2 courses. Then, you can take a maximum of 3 courses per term. So considering you transferred in max credits, completing 10 courses would take 8-10 months.

While 8-10 months at SNHU is longer than the 6 months at PUG or WGU, that is only IF you can complete the CBE in the allotted time.

An butt-in-seat college degree typically takes 4-5 years, with classes typically requiring at least 100hrs of time. So whatever online college you choose, you are coming out way ahead of the butt-in-seat student.

Student Reviews

Hello newbie, who may be wondering if taking online classes at SNHU worth it? Maybe you're a recent high school graduate looking to start college, or maybe your gap year turned into 3, 4, 5 years. Or maybe, like me, you started college but then didn't finish for whatever reason.... and then years later decided, what the hell, let me at least try.

Well, my friend, it is absolutely worth it and let me tell you why -

1. Flexibility - the lectures are all either videos or reading so there are no timed lectures you need to attend. You know your assignments are due every Thursday and Sunday - so besides having a heart attack every Thursday and Sunday about an assignment you may have missed, you KNOW your syllabus. As long as you set time aside, whether it's a couple of hours every day or just all day Saturday or Sunday, you can make it work.
2. Stress Management - You take two classes at a time. That's it... two. Yes, you only have 8 weeks to complete an entire course but you ONLY have to think about two classes at a time. I don't know about you but my anxiety used to kick in because I would be working on one class and then get bombarded with 4 other class assignments/reading/projects. Here, you KNOW you only have one other class to work on - more assignments maybe. I had up to 5 assignments in any given class BUT they were usually interconnected and you only have to shift gear twice to go from one class to the next and back. This helps me manage my stress levels because, in the back of my mind, I could reassure myself that once I am done with *this* assignment, I just need to do the assignments in the other class.
3. Professors* - This may depend on the professor and the classes you are taking but I had wonderful professors with real-life experience and who genuinely want you to succeed. Want to bombard them with emails at 2 in the morning because you can't figure it out? no problem, they will respond the next day. Want to schedule a time, at any time, to virtually meet with them before a project? 9/10 they would be happy to. It's ALL VIRTUAL so don't usually have to worry about office hours!

I just completed the Computer Science program at SNHU this past term and applied for the Computer Science Master's program at Johns Hopkins. I had absolutely no issue with acceptance.

I write this as I am holding my diploma... only took me 10 years to get here but I am truly TRULY thankful for SNHU for providing the online platform for a non-traditional student like myself. And in case you were wondering if SNHU degree would be less than other schools - I got into Northeastern Law School... which is ranked 29th in the country.

References

• Southern New Hampshire List of Degrees
• Degree Plans for SNHU
• Alternative Credit Transfer List
• IT Certification Exams Transfer List