The Finney School of Real Life

The University of Phoenix Online started as a traditional
university in 1976 and was one of the first to go online in
1989. It is currently the leading online university, with tens
of thousands of students from countries around the world. This
has made this school one of the most popular of its kind
anywhere in the world. Their flexible schedule and commitment to
excellence shines through as they churn out more graduates than
any other school in their class every year.

One hundred percent online. Lectures and assignments can be
downloaded into your home computer through the use of special
Internet-access software. There are no live lectures to
facilitate comprehensive access for everybody. A forum grants
the students the chance to interact with each other and ask
questions. A full line of research services and online libraries
are available to the student. Contact between instructor/advisor
and student are handled through email.

After a one-time application fee of $110, the University of
Phoenix works as any other institution, charging students by the
credit hour. Currently, prices are $460/$570/$645 for
undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral credit hours,
respectively.

There are other incidental charges, such as late-payment and
graduation-audit fees, and you should ask for a detailed
breakdown before enrolling.

Low-cost financing and financial aid is available and you can
consult an admissions counselor about eligibility. Payments are
broken down as per course rather than per semester, which makes
them more affordable and easier to budget for.

According to an article published in The Chronicle of Higher
Education, the average Phoenix student is 34 years old and
female. The average tuition is just under $30,750 for an
undergraduate degree. Sixty six percent of enrolled students
earn the degree they signed up for. Fifty percent of students
receive some kind of grant or financial aid.

A degree can be completed in as little as two years, but
students can take up to five. If credits are transferred into
the program at the time of enrolling, time can be considerably
reduced. Other way of earning credits is through the College
Level Examination Program (CLEP).

All instructors hold a minimum of a master’s degree and are
successful professionals in their fields. The faculty includes
hundreds of CEOs, business owners, executives, and experts in
all related disciplines.

Independent study requires discipline and creativity, plus the
ability to communicate efficiently. Beyond that, high-quality
online universities do not differ much from traditional ones and
offer the benefit of flexibility, fundamental to today’s busy
professionals.

There is one matter that requires some thought. You cannot
complete your degree through University of Phoenix online. All
of the classroom and book work will be complete, but in order to
earn the degree you will need to transfer to a traditional
university program for the clinicals which must take place in a
medical setting and have you in person and onsite.

“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink…”
I first read Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner when I was in high school. Alongside with Poe’s Annabel Lee, Ulalume, and Raven, this was one of those first verse-epics that made me love narrative poetry.

The ancient mariner himself was an alienated traveler as most of us are on earth. As blundering roamers on our planet, we too slip and slide into unwanted, dangerous predicaments. No wonder! When one becomes alien to the inner workings of any thing or place, one is destined to make mistakes in or out of water.

Water is one of the most important natural resources, vital for any living thing. All kinds of theories on water conservation, from water harvesting to desalination to waste water management, has been put on the table. Specifically, drinking water has encouraged the creative urges of the public health professionals as well as the sales pitches of the fly-by-night, money-hungry, and wily sales people.

Commercial concerns aside, betraying nature has its consequences as the ancient mariner did by shooting the albatross. Still, the nature was kind and forgiving since it forgave the ancient mariner when he showed remorse, and I am sure nature will also forgive our past mistakes and keep providing for us if we change our messy ways.

If we don’t know how to use our resources, our water supply, or our oceans, whose fault is this?

Water connects us to life, as do our relationships and our bond to humankind. With nearly six billion people on earth, at one time or another, most of us have felt not just alone but also lonely.

When we watch the way our own body systems and our psyche works, we understand the value of water. Without water there is no cleansing; without tears and true remorse, forgiveness or transformation is hard to obtain.

In technical sense, there is such a process called desalination that takes the salt out of sea water and makes it usable and drinkable. If so, why can’t we take the salt out of relating to one another and never feel the thirst?

As there has to be a catalyst to take the salt out of the sea water, and I believe there are catalysts to take the salt out of the ocean of people in regard to our relationships with them. One of these catalysts starts with will for good, not just to do good, but also to see, hear, say, think, and intend good. These are very difficult things to do and they may take more than a lifetime to perfect, since we first have to unlearn age-old suspicions and the way we look at each other.

Another catalyst has to be love and acceptance. For this, we have to get rid of our fear of getting hurt. This too is very difficult because self-protection is a natural instinct.

Yet, man becomes human only when he can corral natural instincts and tame them to feel his own positive presence on earth. When we identify ourselves with our fears, we influence and restrict our emotional make-up into loneliness.

How we look at ourselves and how we identify ourselves within an ocean of people, with no fear, with acceptance of others, with good intentions will help us transcend our limitations and will facilitate our unity with others. Then, we won’t need to say: “water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”

Joy Cagil is an author on a site for Creative Writers (http://www.Writing.Com/ )
Her education is in foreign languages and linguistics. She has also trained in psychology, science, mental health, and humanities. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/joycag