The struggles of the modern day are numerous. Not only do we continually have to work throughout our lives to keep a form of stable life together, but we also have to constantly learn new skills.
In the past, these skills were related to our chosen field of work or personal interest, but now they are more related to earning more to keep ourselves afloat.
As such, many of us turn to easily accessible learning platforms to help us out and get the qualifications we need.
One of these platforms is called ‘ed2go’ and they offer a variety of education courses for people to learn from. However, many want to know: is ed2go legit?
In this article, we seek to answer this question and discover whether they are worth learning.
What Is Ed2go?
Ed2go has had many different faces over the years, but currently it is an online learning platform that allows personal learners and traditional students to take courses at their own pace while working on them remotely.
They offer a range of courses in almost all fields that you would find at a college, and many of their courses work in association with various colleges that make themselves available.
They offer over 150 different certifications, and they also offer to teach over 50 different industry specialties, which can be great for those who need help with a niche subject.
The learning group boasts that it is in correspondence with over 2000 academic institutions, more than 80 big corporations, and more than 100 workforce agencies.
This suggests that the students will receive accredited certifications by learning through them, and they are an accredited business by the better business bureau.
Originally, ed2go started as an e-mail correspondent program in 1997 but has changed its format as its clientele has grown to over 3 million people.
Although it is not the biggest learning platform in the world today, it has certainly become much bigger than it once was.
Is Ed2go Legit?
This is kind of a difficult question to answer because it depends on what you are asking about when referring to ed2go and who you are asking.
As such, we will break down the different parts of ed2go and see if the total whole of their company appears legitimate.
If we take the actual courses, it seems that many of the beginner courses are fairly legitimate. Many people enjoy beginner courses, get good help from them, and want to come back to more advanced courses.
However, when looking at the advanced courses – which are far more expensive – there seems to be a lot of complaints about it basically being like reading a book or watching a series of videos with little to no instructor help.
Since ed2go seems to be partnering with some other institutions, it appears that a lot of these lessons rely on educators that are approved by these institutions or work directly under them.
As such, it is probably the case that the quality of the course is dependent on them, but it still doesn’t excuse some of the poor quality.
Another problematic aspect is that the certifications are not really all that useful.
Although they are given out, there have been several former students who state that they do not mention what course they passed or their qualification, with them only saying ‘Certificate of Achievement.
Naturally, this is not really useful if you are trying to get a job, as many will need to see legitimate proof that you have the skills and qualifications to do the work.
One of the big selling points of ed2go is its affordability. They offer courses from a couple of hundred dollars each to up to $5000 per course.
Considering how much courses cost in America nowadays, this is a huge help and can be tempting for some trying to get an education, especially if you can afford it yourself.
Yet, when people apply for student loans through them, they tend to have terrible experiences with it.
If the course is not up to spec or if it turns out to be a scam, then ed2go has proven in the past to not only not help but to actively try and stop a person from getting their money back.
We wouldn’t mention this if it was a one-time occurrence, but it seems to be rife in their financial system.
In the past, they set students up with other student loan companies, and we are unsure if that is still the case, but people have reported that they are still struggling years later thanks to the mismanagement of this system.
So, in answer to the question ‘is ed2go legit?’, technically the answer is yes, but only because the better business bureau says it is.
If you want to evaluate it based as an educational business, we would say no it is not, and it is best to steer clear of this learning platform.
Most people have a really bad experience and even if they have a good one, there is normally something that goes wrong.
Alternatives To Ed2go
There are a few places you can go to that will be better online educators than ed2go. Coursera, a website based platform is a good start. The courses are university level and collaborate with universities themselves to make sure they stay that way.
They are known for their openness and their well-thought-out learning plans. The one issue is price, but otherwise, they are pretty good at getting people educated.
Another good online learning platform is Pluralsight. They are slightly cheaper than Coursera, but they only tend to offer courses related to coding and computer sciences. You can check other features of Pluralsight here.
However, the courses are incredibly high quality and well worth a look.
Conclusion
Ed2go is legitimate only because the better business bureau says it is a for-profit business.
As an online learning platform, we advise you to stay far away from it, as it has a lot of problems that have continued from its inception to now, and they don’t look like they will be resolved soon.
