Home Online Education Access and Affordability Affordability of Higher Education (Part 2)

Affordability of Higher Education (Part 2)

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The founder of American Military University, Major James P. Etter, was passionate about the need to provide an affordable college education to service members. We matched our tuition to the semester hour rate maximum reimbursed by the Department of Defense (DOD) which is currently $250 per semester hour. We do not charge an application or admissions fee. We do not charge a technology fee or student activities fee. We provide book grants to all undergraduate students who maintain the minimum satisfactory academic standing of a 2.0 GPA. We have not increased our undergraduate tuition since 2000, nearly eight years.

We charge a Transfer Credit Evaluation Fee (TCE) of $100 which is used to offset the cost of procuring all transcripts earned by a student at previously attended institutions and/or military training schools as well as the cost of evaluating how much credit applies to the degree path selected. We do not charge the student a fee per credit hour transferred as some schools do. We accept ACE credit recommendations and accept up to 90 credit hours transferred at the undergraduate (BA/BS) level.

What does this mean? We believe that we expand access to higher education by attempting to keep our tuition low and our fees at a minimum. Some of the students who attend our institution would not be able to afford other institutions including their public state university. Our credit transfer policy further reduces the total cost of a degree for an adult learner since our cap should not reduce the courses already taken at a community college while earning an associates degree. Calculating the savings by not having to retake courses is complicated, but something that I strongly advise you to do.

I suggest that anyone concerned with the cost of a degree make a comparison of the following items:

To see our methodology, please click the links below:

Wally Boston Dr. Wallace E. Boston was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of American Public University System (APUS) and its parent company, American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) in July 2004. He joined APUS as its Executive Vice President in 2002. In September 2019, Dr. Boston retired as CEO of APEI and retired as APUS President in August 2020. Dr. Boston guided APUS through its successful initial accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association in 2006 and ten-year reaccreditation in 2011. In November 2007, he led APEI to an initial public offering on the NASDAQ Exchange. For four years from 2009 through 2012, APEI was ranked in Forbes' Top 10 list of America's Best Small Public Companies. During his tenure as president, APUS grew to over 85,000 students, 200 degree and certificate programs, and approximately 100,000 alumni. While serving as APEI CEO and APUS President, Dr. Boston was a board member of APEI, APUS, Hondros College of Nursing, and Fidelis, Inc. Dr. Boston was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity by the U.S. Secretary of Education in 2019. He also serves as a member of the Board of Advisors of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), as a Trustee of The American College of Financial Services, as a member of the board of Our Community Salutes - USA, and as a member and chair of the board of New Horizons Worldwide. He has authored and co-authored papers on the topic of online post-secondary student retention, and is a frequent speaker on the impact of technology on higher education. Dr. Boston is a past Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the McDonogh School, a private K-12 school in Baltimore. In his career prior to APEI and APUS, Dr. Boston served as either CFO, COO, or CEO of Meridian Healthcare, Manor Healthcare, Neighborcare Pharmacies, and Sun Healthcare Group. Dr. Boston is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He earned an A.B. degree in History from Duke University, an MBA in Marketing and Accounting from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business Administration, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. In 2008, the Board of Trustees of APUS awarded him a Doctorate in Business Administration, honoris causa, and, in April 2017, also bestowed him with the title President Emeritus. In August 2020, the Board of Trustees of APUS appointed him Trustee Emeritus. In November 2020, the Board of Trustees announced that the APUS School of Business would be renamed the Dr. Wallace E Boston School of Business in recognition of Dr. Boston's service to the university. Dr. Boston lives with his family in Austin, Texas.

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