BWU: About: Why Choose BWU?

Brown Western University realizes that there are many people who desire to earn a college degree. Reasons we often hear are: in order to move up in their current companies, to meet the “qualifications” listed for new jobs, or simply to finish what they’ve started. Yet these same motivated, responsible adult students have had to put their degree programs on the back-burner for a variety of reasons, most often because of the busyness of life, families, and work.

BWU's purpose is to help busy, working adult students earn their degrees. We offer quality degree programs that are rigorous yet practical. Our leadership and faculty have many years of experience at traditional universities across the country, yet have seen a need for a more accessible and experienced-adult-friendly university, offering practical degree programs and - thanks to online learning technologies – can save the busy adult student a lot of time.

Though there is no average BWU student, there are some common trends. Most of the students coming to BWU have some college units from one or more colleges and universities; most have multiple years of work experience under their belts; most are planning to stay with their current employers but most want to finish the degree so they have an option to move up the ladder when the time comes rather than watch an inexperienced newbie get the positions simply because that person has a degree.

The typical BWU student also has some verifiable “life-experience” credits that can be awarded under the regulations of the California educational code, which can further shorten the number of units needed and the time to graduate.

The typical BWU student isn’t interested in school football games, fraternities or school social events. Our typical student wants to earn his/her bachelor’s or master’s degree, but also to learn some practical, relevant skills that are useful in their job and will help them grow a better future. BWU students want to grow and progress in their lives.

BWU is different than the traditional university. We are different: in our target students, in our lower tuition, in our acceptance of previous college units, in our awarding of life-experience credits, in our teaching completely online, in our one-month format, and in our treating each student like an individual and not just a number.

Brown Western University	Traditional University
Focuses on working adult students	Focuses on young students
Accepts previous credits	Won’t accept anything over 5-7 years old
Life-experience credit awarded when appropriate	No life-experience credit offered
Low tuition	High tuition (and going up each year)
GO GREEN! All courses taught online—no driving, gas or parking costs.	Students must drive to campus, pay for and then try to find parking
Qualified, experienced professors all of the time	Many courses taught by grad students
Flexible one class at a time format and take time off when you need	Old semester system: must take four or five classes at a time, and must drop all classes if you can’t finish
Practical, relevant coursework and many online resources	Theoretical courses with old-fashioned textbooks (expensive and boring)
You're NOT a number with us. Encouragement and individuality	You’re a number.

If you’re a busy, working adult student with working experience, some units taken somewhere, the ability to get online, and a desire to earn your degree, then Brown Western University is for you. We’ll help you earn that degree in as short a time as possible.

Remember the old adage: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” At Brown Western University, we’ll work with you to shorten the trip.