academic advisor

customer service representative

admissions advisor

financial specialist

accounting specialist

COLUMBIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Columbia Southern University is a for-profit university. That, in itself, is a significant area to focus on. While the mission and vision are to provide education and opportunities to those who might otherwise not have them, the ultimate goal/aim is to increase enrollments, whatever the cost. There are no admissions standards and limited review of student progress beyond whether the student "persistently enrolls." Keywords like retention and persistence are based solely on numbers, ignoring all qualitative meaning: are students "persisting" because they're getting a financial aid check and get 100s on every assignment regardless of effort/merit? That question was rarely asked, despite lower-level staff reporting entire course grade books that consist of nothing but 100s on every student assignment. Should the retained students actually be retained? While opportunities are important, not everyone is suited for an academic environment. Often, the best service to a student is to lead them in a different direction, one that would cause the student to withdraw from the university. While that sounds negative, it is absolutely the best interest of the student. But again, a profit-fueled company will not turn a student away, regardless of the need. Those two questions only scratch the surface of the disconnect between the company's mission and its actual business practices.

The company is owned by a family, and the company touts its family atmosphere. This is often true, primarily because nepotism runs high in the company. Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, etc. often work together and influence the work environment. CSU is very much focused on "who you know" rather than "what you know." Promotions are often given based on popularity or family ties rather than based on the best person for the job. There are many "fun days" throughout the year that, while perhaps good-intentioned, often seem to be a punishment: who wants to go to work, but not work? Those who choose not to attend the events must use personal time. An example event was a tailgate kickoff: a two-hour picnic in the middle of the day in August in South Alabama. After the picnic, everyone had to return to work for the rest of the day.

While I do believe the founder had and the current CEO (the founder's son) has good intentions, the distance between intentions and actual practice is vast. Those advising the CEO present often skewed data or misrepresented numbers. 

My advice to anyone considering a position at this university is to ask yourself if you are comfortable providing a product that is not the product advertised. If not, this is not the company for you.

After reading all the reviews I had to write my own.  I work here and I go to school here. I have found it to be a very friendly and fun place to work.  I was given ample time to learn the position and management are always very encouraging and positive.  I have never had to have a negative conversation and I have never felt degraded as stated in previous reviews.  So many nice people.  All you have to do is ask for help and it is given to you without making you feel bad for asking. The owners are a family and are really great people.  So humble and willing to help people improve their lives through a very affordable and quality education. In fact they try to get to know everyone of their employees and actually come your desk and talking for a few minutes. Never has the owner of a company I have worked for even given me a wave let alone knows me by name and wanted to know about me. I am not sure why other reviews are saying CSU is not accredited.  CSU is Nationally Accredited and I have talked to hundreds of people who have got a degree with CSU and obtained a great job or was able to advance in the career they were in.  Do they micro manage, yes some, but that was never a problem for me.  If you come to work to work and follow the few rules they have, then micro managing won't be an issue.  Very comfortable place to work.  It has been my experience that they go far beyond any other company to make sure that I have a pleasant and comfortable work environment. I will take that over a higher wage any day.  I have never felt this was a "cult environment" and the family never excludes anyone or makes anyone feel less because they are not in the family.  CSU is like one big family.  We get together for several fun days outside with a catered lunch and at Christmas we get a company Christmas party that is second to none.  I am getting a second Bachelor’s degree and my first was not at an online school.  I find my classes are extremely challenging and very rewarding. Based on reading the reviews of CSU here, I just felt that the owners of CSU and the reputation of CSU deserved this review. It is really a shame that when people get angry they have to try to ruin someone else.  I like truth.  It will set you free from having to lie.

I have no pull or weight when it comes to human resources, advertising, or hiring/firing, as my position is managing administrative needs and/or escalated student issues. Yes, there have been events of micromanaging and negativity in some departments, but overall, this company is amazing. Each department has different functions and tasks, so most often, one can find a position in which he or she is a good fit. If speaking on the phone isn't your strongest skill, try for something that is more logistic in nature. CSU has by far been my best employer.

I have seen posts where the company "is a diploma mill" and "unaccredited," which is absolutely false. The courses require much thought and effort, and CSU is accredited through the DEAC, which is recognized by CHEA; you may review this information on the website. 

Yes, the institution is for-profit and has overcome many obstacles; it has only made the culture stronger. Up to this point, there also has been a gap in communication from upper management to the staff level. This recently has been recognized by the president, and large efforts are being made in closing this gap; he has been directly discussing this with team members to solve the miscommunication. Whereas we can all improve, this organization can and will. 

We have fun days when the institution is closed for staff-enrichment events; for instance, CSU reserves Waterville in Gulf Shores for the staff for several hours one day in the summer. The founding family is truly precious and loving, and I feel that the negativity will be resolved with the expansion in training of departmental leadership. Excellent benefits options are offered, and compared to other employers in the area, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find an opportunity to work in a happy environment and to change others' lives as we do, though pay may be lower than many post-secondary institutions. Offering excellence in service and making a difference in each student's life is what we truly aim to do each day. Come by for a visit and see what we're all about!

I give our company a 4 of 5 rating because there is always room for improvement. We must all recognize our weaknesses and strengths and move forward for a bigger, better tomorrow.

The management sucks because they have people with no degree managing people WITH degrees at a college. The management loves to spy on everything you do ( including spying on anything you do at your computer, even over lunch). They also claimed to be a "family-friendly" school, but they are not. If you are even late 30 seconds, you still get in trouble with managers. SO many people with families got fired because of being "late" or having family emergencies. All of the people I grew to like in my time there eventually left. They hated the department as much as I did. Between the micro-management, fake employees, and sucky managers, it's no wonder they told eveyone they had to freeze the department so no one could move up or over to another department. No one wanted to be there.

The first day is all about fun and getting to know the school. People SEEM happy when you go visit departments but later, you realize that this is not a "happy" work environment. Policies were changing so often for students, even three times in one day! It was hard to do admissions work with ever-changing requirements of students. They were confused. Another thing that really did not make sense to me was all of the telemarketing that they have the admissions department doing for the school. Real colleges and universities do not cold call random people and then keep stalking them. Columbia Southern University PAYS for leads, and then they have admissions call them. That is not a college. The biggest thing for me was that they aren't regionally accreditted, so many people were getting "degrees" that they could not even transfer to another college. I ended up talking to so many angry people. I felt like I was wasting my life in a cubicle doing a job that I was not told I would be doing. I moved for this job. I really believed all the fluff they told me when they hired me. I regret ever working there.

When i stopped looking at this place as education and started looking at it as a business, it made more sense. This is a call center disguised as a school. The degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on, and when students call to discuss it, they have prepared talking points to deal with it. You are required to constantly be on the phone making calls. The students are treated like children and not adults. The leadership is incompetent and things change weekly. The answer to every question is 'It Depends'. You are to sit in your cubicle and work from 9am to 6pm and hope to be lucky enough to leave at 5pm with seniority. I would recommend not working at this place. 

The turnover rate is incredibly high. Once you're out of training, you see how things really are. It gets old very fast. Everything is all about numbers. There are no requirements to enter the school as a student, so that allows many students who are not academically sound, to take classes. They just want the money. I have two degrees from a regionally accredited school, i've never seen a school SELL COURSE EXTENSIONS. A student could get to the end of their course, and buy an extension to keep the class going. They constantly have problems getting regionally accredited and probably will never get it. I would imagine the SACS accreditation body would not want their name and legitimacy associated with this company. Many of the employees are related to each other and received their degrees from the school. It is very 'clique-ish'. If you don't drink the Kool-Aid, you won't fit in here. A very unprofessional place to work, and is not representative of what a real school would be like. They would even ask you to work later hours and offer 'free food' to entice the deal. Many of the employees work multiple jobs to make ends meet, and advancement never happens unless a manager leaves (they never do). I have never seen so many supposedly 'college educated' people, get together and make so many stupid decisions.

Very uneducated people run the school. Its not a regionally accrediated university. Its not worth your time or effort to work there.People with degrees are a threat to them and you will be treated like cr**p. I concur with the other reviews that this school is a cult. They want to be so much like a real school its pathetic (they can't and will never be like a real school). If you go to upper management with a problem they will turn the situation around and blame you for it because they can't resolve the issue or don't want too.  HR, Accounting, Development, CS, etc. (all departments) are all related to one another so they are going to always take up for one another. If you aren't part of the "team" you will be an outsider and they will treat you as such.  This school has people (management)  in place to grin in your face and stab you in the back so that they can keep their own jobs and make you look bad on a consistant basis. I hope one day that someone will take notice to the mess they put people through and a light is shinned on them.  People that live in the area all of their lives have never heard of the school. That's a big RED LIGHT that something is wrong! Another thing is some people that work there are like puppets. And they will go along with everything and anything that goes on there even compromising their own dignity to satisify the family that owns the school! I am so glad that I got another job 6 months after I worked at CSU and got the heck out of there before they could get me tied up in the junk that they had going on! Anyone that is there at least a week will notice the foolishness that they have going on.  They have their priorities in the wrong place and don't think they should get with the program. That school and the people that work there need to stay just where they are in that contemptible place they call Orange Beach, AL!

Most enjoyable part is getting to know so many people. I have learned not question authority, keep your opinion to yourself, the older generation is starting to be replaced with the younger generation. You will only move up if you are young and cute. Also, supposedly you can apply for other departments but if the leadership team decides it is not the best interest it will not happen. Although they will allow you to interview and waste company money. 

Also, it is supposedly a family Christian environment, however. people who are having affairs at work and breaking up marriages get promoted. If you are a member of their church cliché you will have a job and title made just for you.

If your grandmother works in the HR department, you get all kinds of perks, excuses, promotions. Never written up.

Benefits, raises, and perks are starting to become more expensive, perks, raises, and parties and special events becoming cheesier. The owners are starting to let others take over that do not know what they are doing besides looking cute, wasting time, and not using company resources. 

People are getting leadership positions over one employee, while others are leading several. Job titles constantly changing to benefit people in the leadership positions. 

Slang is used by the management team like Anywho and emojis, however, it is suppose to be a professional environment. You will see leadership on their cell phones constantly watching games, playing games, facebook, etc. Even in meetings they are doing this.

If you are an outsider coming to work here, more than likely you will make as much as someone who has been here for five years. They do not take into consideration of paying new people the same or more than people who have been committed to them for years.

The owners are great people, and what they think the company is and what it really is are two very different things. The problem at CSU is that lower management is not competent, not properly educated or trained for the jobs they hold.  They do nothing in a way that makes sense, they have favorite employees that hang out at the bar with them, and those people do not have to carry their share of the workload. Communication is horrible, and every department in the university operates like its own company so no one knows what anyone else is doing. Every day is even more frustrating than the one before it. Managers at the lower level lie to your face knowing that behind your back they are doing exactly the opposite of what they say. The president and owner tells the top managers what he wants to see accomplished, then those people tell the ones below them what he wants to see, then those managers screw it all up.  If you have a job here, you will be micromanaged to death unless you are one of the lower managers' bar buddies. A few people do all the work.  This place has a revolving door with people leaving faster than they can hire, and these are the reasons. HR is not going to help you here; they are total idiots who know nothing about hiring laws or practices.  The place is still being run like a mom and pop twenty employee company when it has more than 1500 employees- it does not work. Lies and secrets all the time here, you cannot believe anything anyone here says.

Do yourself a favor- steer clear.

This place is a cult. There is no room for advancement. Friends from the owner's church are brought in an given jobs over others with Masters degrees. Leadership is inexperienced and inadequate. Only chance at promotion is if you hang in one of the leadership cliques. Leadership does not support the employees whatsoever. Too much fraternization. Too much micromanaging. Faulty job descriptions. They get you in and make you feel that they want your experience and input but in all actuality if you do not agree with their horrible tactics you will be consistently picked on and written up to push you on out the door. Unorganized. A call center looking for call center representatives rather than degreed professionals. Very dysfunctional. No one in leadership knows who does what. Leadership is never available. They all get up and go to lunch on the company credit card and "meetings" everyday. They do not value employees at all. Job descriptions change after you are hired and get worse over time. Everything becomes a quota. They portray to be family oriented.

Very strange and cultish place to work. When you talk to anybody who used to work there or some people that are still there it is always described as the Cult. I was an Assistant Admission Manager that didn't make it past the first month of training. We, new trainees, were practicing calling by calling each other and I jokingly asked another trainee for there extension number and not their 900 number. I was out of there 2 days later. During my short time there I was told by several employees to keep your head down and go along with their games like CRAZY VIDEO DAY!  Yay. But,  as my fault, I don't work well with extreme conformity and strict religious undertones. Also, you were not allowed to elaborate about their credentials to students because they were not of regional accreditation like South Alabama or the like. They are Nationally accredited, at least when I was there.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Academic advisor 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year
Customer service representative 9 salaries reported	$16.22 per hour
Admissions advisor 3 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Financial specialist 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Accounting specialist 1 salary reported	$16.00 per hour

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