Pros
Great mission serving adult learners.Their willingness to allow students to bring in credits earned elsewhere or by exam makes them one of the "Big Three" (+TESU and COSC) who get that adults need other options for getting their degrees. The result of that mission is that you get amazing students--soldiers deployed overseas, teachers powering up on degrees for advancement, lifelong learners who have lived interesting lives and bring those experiences into the classroom. The courses are canned but mostly well-designed and interesting. Ability (for now) to buy into retirement plan Support from faculty leads
Cons
Some students can't do graduate-level work when I get them, so there's a lot of hand-holding to get acceptable final work completed to standard. That comes with the territory, though, and I don't mind it; if you've not worked with adult learners before, it may come as a shock to you in the beginning, however. 25% pay cut announced two months ago, so this is my last term there. The messaging from the new leadership is that we were just getting paid too much compared to the adjuncts/peons at other schools (/s) and EC wants to focus on attracting quality faculty and meeting student needs. Strange way of showing it considering 1) the bulk of their instructors are adjuncts, and 2) underpaid adjuncts=adjuncts taking on more work to keep income steady=adjuncts paying less attention to each student=decrease in instructional quality. Odd things are happening in higher ed in NY and nationally. I think Excelsior is in trouble. I hope they make it.