American Sentinel University, commonly shortened American Sentinel, is a private for-profit university that is committed to offering affordable education with flexible coursework, personalized attention and support, faculty with real world experience, and a variety of appropriate online degree programs. Its mission is to provide high-quality and innovative education programs to assist students with improving their lives at a professional and public level. It strives to be recognized as an educational leader that provides excellent and accessible education for motivated and non-traditional students. It adapts its programs to the constantly changing needs of students and communities. In it’s commitment to providing high-quality instruction, American Sentinel University ensures to select instructors with advanced education and extensive experiences in their field. Nearly half of the faculty members hold a PhD in the area they teach.
American Sentinel University offers more than 20 distance-learning and online certificate, associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degree programs with no residency requirements. The programs are practical and project-based and strive to prepare students for careers that are in high demand in today’s marketplace. Many online programs are fast-paced to meet the needs of working adult students.
The industry certification programs include Microsoft, Project Management Professional, Cisco, and CompTIA are geared for individuals pursuing careers in the computer technology field. It offers associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees in technology, business, and healthcare. Its technology programs concentrate information systems and computer science. Its business programs enable students to specialize in a specific area including healthcare management, finance, business informatics, marketing, and business administration. Its healthcare programs provide instruction in high demand health fields such as nursing and health informatics. Students seeking to pursue nursing programs have an array of options from Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science to a Master of Science in nursing specializing in case management or nursing education.
American Sentinel University was founded in 2006 by joining three separate previous nationally-accredited institutions: the American Graduate School of Management in Denver, Colorado, American College of Computer and Information Sciences in Birmingham, Alabama, and Sentinel University in Denver, Colorado. Academic and business leaders that are nationally recognized established it as a Vanderbilt University Technology Company. Currently, there are more than 1,100 students and 1,400 alumni. The headquarters of American Sentinel University is based in Aurora, Colorado.
Accreditation
The Distance Education and Training Council accredit American Sentinel University. It is also authorized by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to function as a degree granting entity under the Degree Authorization Act. The Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredits the university’s nursing programs.
Scholarships
American Sentinel University offers scholarships to military students including the Military Scholarship and Severely Injured Scholarship.
Financing
American Sentinel University participates in federal student financial aid options including the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Direct Stafford Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans for Parents, and Federal Direct PLUS Loans for Graduate Students. It accepts private student loans and students may be eligible for in-school loan payment deferment and tax credits such as the Hope Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit, and American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOC). American Sentinel University offers a house payment plan to help students pay for tuition. Students are able to make a down payment and monthly payments with low interest rates. The school also accepts employer reimbursement.
Credit Earning Options
American Sentinel University has a general college transfer credits policy where students can receive credit for previously completed coursework and professional certificates. The university typically awards 3 to 12 credits for professional certificates depending on the certification. Students can receive up to 45 credit hours for associate degree programs, 90 credit hours for bachelor’s degree programs, and 18 credit hours for master’s degree programs. Students must submit requests for transfer credits, official transcripts, course descriptions, and other supporting documentation to the Evaluation Committee. The committee assesses the requests and provides students with a degree plan. Students are also able to earn credits for life, work, and military experiences. For life and work experiences students can earn a maximum of 15 credits for associate degrees, 30 credits for bachelor’s degrees, and 9 credits for master’s degrees. Students must submit an analysis of experiences and how it related to certain courses and evidence to support the analysis. Military students are able to earn transfer credits from various military organizations by submitting military transcripts. The university also considers credits earned through examinations such as the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), ACT Proficiency Examination Program (PEP), the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) program, Subject Standardized Testing (DSST), the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES), and other institution-developed tests and industry certifications that are widely accepted.