More seriously, I'll try to explain why and what DeVry is.
The DeVry Institute of Technology, despite the grand name, is essentially a technical training school that encompasses computer software engineering, business studies, electronics engineering and sundry career enhancing continuing education. The idea is that rather than churn out theoretically capable people as the Universities tend to, DeVry graduates should be useful employees from day one.
And therein lies the crux. Rather than being a place to learn and think for the sake of doing so, DeVry educates so their students can find work, and they can only find work if they're competent.
The Computer Information Systems (aka CIS) program is the one I'm most familiar with as I'm currently enrolled in it. To narrow the focus even further I can only really comment on the Calgary institute -- the others across Canada and America frequently concentrate on the technology used by their environment, so in Chicago, COBOL becomes of great relevance. Calgary by way of comparison is considered to be the most advanced of the DeVry institutes mostly due to the fact Calgary is one of the most demanding cities in terms of current skills.
The CIS degree starts off very, very simply. As DeVry has the objective of re-educating people from, say, construction workers to computer programmers, they have to start somewhere, and try to bring everyone to the same level of competence. As most DeVry students have part-time work, the sessions are organised such that entire semesters have only afternoon or morning courses. To have a mix of the two you have to either take courses ahead or behind but it's preferred if you don't.
One of the important features to note about the DeVrys is that they are private educational institutions -- that means there are no government handouts for the programs. Students must pay for the whole cost of their tuition which means incredibly high trimester fees. And that leads me onto the next point. DeVry runs a trimester system instead of the usual semester system. The result is that while you end up being busy year round instead of taking the summer off, a four year course (in terms of load) is completed in three.
DeVry Calgary in their brochures boasts a 100% placement for their CIS students. Sounds rosy until you notice that the statement is qualified to "students actively looking for employment in the first six months after graduation." In turn "actively looking for employment" is defined as attending three interviews a week...
Ok, but what is the quality of the course like? Before I even started at DeVry I had a pretty good background in computer work and education so I feel I'm qualified to comment (see my resume if you'd like to debate that!) The courses are not hard, but they involve a lot of work. Furthermore DeVry's intention is to place their graduates into industry which seems to mean accounting and database work. Accordingly there's a very heavy concentration on accounting on the grounds that if you're going to be implementing, developing and supporting accounting software, you'd better know what the heck you're doing.
Computer courses and equipment are revised on a constant basis in order to keep pace with mainstream industry. Currently HTML and 'online systems' are on their way in, as well as visual packages such as Delphi. To stay compatible with other older jobs out there, COBOL is still maintained as a course. C programming goes as far as C++, but doesn't seem to have stretched into WinNT programming yet, an omission that does surprise me. Networking is still based on Novell which is fair enough due to the huge amount of installed systems, whether or not that's shrinking. Data security, a growing area of interest, is also catered to in a later course.
In order to graduate, students in their final year must produce a project of merchantible quality and find someone willing to buy it. This baptism by fire is intended to prove to the outside world that DeVry graduates are competent, but also to ensure to the students themselves that they actually are.
To assist in their potential role as consultants, DeVry also supplies a few courses dealing with Systems Analysis, a rather nebulous term that describes the process of determining how a 'system' -- be it a computer, organisation, or procedure -- works.
In addition to the more technical side, DeVry also has an intent to produce CIS graduates who can function in an environment that uses computers rather than dotes on them. That means there's an emphasis on communication skills through classes on speaking, writing and so forth.
While there are a few dedicated teachers -- primarily in the English and accounting departments -- the majority of instructors are drawn from the workforce. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that skills brought into the school are current and trained; the disadvantage is that the instructors are not necessarily good teachers, and even if they are, they leave after a brief period of time. On the other hand, Universities suffer from the poor teacher syndrome too, so that's not too negative a feature!
The student population is quite varied. From teenagers fresh out of high school to university graduates re-orientating themselves, to people who've been working for 10 or more years and finally decided they need a serious change. As one of DeVry's intents is to graduate people who can work profitably in teams, you get to meet an interesting cross section of people.
The degree granted is a BSc from the University of Phoenix. For those who're wondering, it's accredited by the same organisation that permits many of the larger American universities, so the degree is not a bogus one. (An MSc in Yogic Flying, anyone?!) As The Alberta government has given permission to DeVry to grant degrees in Alberta, DeVry students need no longer head south to another DeVry campus to earn their degree and cna stay in Calgary. For me, that's a definite bonus.
Overall, the education level is sound and is competent. While it's not as advanced as I would like, it's still every bit as helpful as a University backing in Computer Science. In terms of cost? Well, assuming that you find work quickly (as you might expect to do) you can start repaying that grossly huge student loan. I've not graduated yet, so can't give a firm comment on that, but from the feedback I've heard from people who have, the expense is worth it. We'll see.
So why did I chose to go to DeVry? If you check my rant you'll get a good feeling for it. Essentially, despite my qualifications, I could not even get an interview for any computer related job. After a year and a half of part-time work while looking for something real, I decided that a BSc was about the only way to go. A BSc from the University of Calgary would have taken four years, something I wasn't willing to wait for. DeVry seemed to have the right timing, the appropriate focus and an interesting attitude. So I bit. Now to finish it off!