100 Terrific Self-Learning Sites to Boost Your Resume During the Recession

Here is a list of 100 sites to enhance your mind.
A list of open course ware from to top colleges like Notre Dame and MIT.
Free learning to increase brain power and confidence in a job interview.
Might as well list these as credentials and a skill asset when unemployment is this high.
Want to enhance your language skills, math skills, business skills, history knowledge here is a list to great sites to help with that.

If your like me and don't want anymore school loans for a degree that might be worthless and need some extra skills to help your entrepreneurial spirit and increase creativity here you go.
I am young yet and have accepted the challenge of going at learning on my own in my own home outside of the school atmosphere.
I was ripped off by a for profit college called Westwood College.
They were charging me almost 20 grand a year for a degree.
18% interest on a private loan generated through their personal lender.
Their is a huge lawsuit going on against them right now that if won will reimburse me for my expenses, but that could take years.
Also loans through Sallie Mae that I got so easy I don't even know how, they should of never loaned to this school.
The curriculum was really poor, I attended their main campus in the whole U.S. and while the major I was going for had great teachers and was superb everything outside of that was a joke.
For 20 grand a year I could have attended a private school whose overall program would be above par and include sports which is certainly a passion for me.
Westwood College is a joke and the predatory ways they go about getting new students should be a thread in itself to expose the joke these for profit colleges do kids.
Kids who are just happy to get into school with big dreams and they get annihilated. These dreams get shattered like glass with 80 grand in debt, a worthless degree and no job.
I left after the first year and have talked to fellow students who graduated and have no job and are working jobs that pay 20 grand a year.
They said employers that they called who they have a specialized degree in working for laughed at them.
They said we don't respect Westwoods curriculum, on top of that none of their credits transfer.
No brick and mortar school respects their learning materials because they are not regionally accredited. And it is not that this curriculum did not have the proper accreditation it was F****** poor.
Pardon my language but moneys money and I don't have a never ending reserve like the FDIC.
The only thing I got from this school, the only thing I got was some great connects and contacts.
So now that I am on my own with this ambition and motivation to be successful here is a great resource.
Here you go.

100 great learning sites




[edit on 7-8-2010 by spacemanLive]

Thank you for this post. I've been looking for something like this since I lost my last job. This will come in very handy.

I read about the OpenWare from MIT and I think its a great idea!

I also have a similar story about Everest University. They also aren't Regionally Accredited even though they tell you that they are "nationally accredited," which means their accreditation board accredits nationwide and those are apparently considered bogus.

Without going into much detail so I don't high-jack the thread, they basically billed me about $15,000/year which I paid. Took two and sometimes three classes a quarter and after 2.5 years I was almost finished with my B.S., however, a sudden slew of classes were added to my requirements. I was told that because it was quarterly schedule, it'd take roughly 190 credits to complete a B.S., which would make sense if the classes weren't 2 to 3 classes in a 12 week period each. Anyway it looked like I still had 2 more years to go. Maybe 2.5 and I was tired of non-engaged instructors and students that were allowed to essentially copy and paste everything.

Anyway, I found out after I dropped them that I also had around $30,000 in loans via Sallie Mae. So basically, I paid about $40,000 to the school already.

I don't recommend them at all.

The good news is that I have started at another University and my employer is paying 100% of the bill so I don't have to use anymore of my GI Bill.

[edit on 7-8-2010 by Zaxxon]

I'm all for learning new stuff, so I think this is a good idea. I doubt it will actually help people gets jobs, though; at least around here, it's far more about your connections than your credentials. Being smarter will probably help you keep a job, but I doubt it will help get one.