A few years ago when I was actively doing individual position recruiting for county government, it seemed that we had large serge in the number of candidates claiming academic qualifications from bogus institutions. These colleges or universities had quite legitimate sounding names, but were actually businesses scams using the internet.
In some cases investigation and discovery of a fraudulent school and degree was quite simple, all that had to be done was to go to the supposed college’s web site. Most of the unaccredited, internet “schools” I came across offered a Bachelor’s through Doctorate degree, based on an individual’s life experience.
One school website, in particular, insisted that life experience was superior to any form of classroom training that one could receive. And may I say in a very convincing manner argued that after working in their field of endeavor for 10-20 years the person had an ABSOLUTE RIGHT to the degree that this institution was prepared to award them. They promised to complete all processing and to deliver the student’s degree package within 2 weeks, conditioned of course upon prompt receipt of the $648 application fee.
There is a lot of information on the web about how to recognize these fraudulent colleges and universities. Before considering undertaking any sort of online degree program you should educate yourself on what to look out for. Here are a few of the sites that offer further descriptions of these businesses, their practises, and how they are run.
From Wikipedia… diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study, and without recognition by official accrediting bodies. These degrees are often awarded based on life experience. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines a diploma mill as "An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or, because of the lack of proper standards, worthless." Such organizations are unaccredited, although some claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved organizations set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity. Although diploma mills are unaccredited, lack of educational accreditation does not necessarily indicate that an institution is a diploma mill.
The US Department of Education warns… A bogus degree from a diploma mill is not likely to impress prospective employers and could be a complete waste of money. Today many employers are requiring degrees from legitimately accredited institutions. Federal agencies are being directed by the federal government's
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to verify the legitimacy of an applicant's degree(s). According to
OPM, "there is no place in Federal employment for degrees or credentials from diploma mills."
Military.com has a warning message for their target audiance regarding what it terms,
“The Big Rip-off”
“Are you looking for the ‘right school’ to meet your needs? Does the thought of an easy ‘no hassle’ college degree with no Transcript or Student Evaluation Processes scare you? Well maybe it should. Because that is the hook used by many un-reputable, unaccredited ‘colleges’ (often called ‘diploma mills’). These diploma mills love to prey on military service members.”
How do diploma mills get started, you ask?
eLearners.com advises that, “Online education is fairly new to most postsecondary institutions, with schools constantly developing and revising its programs to suit today's students. With new programs being introduced to potential students everyday, it would be seemingly simple for an individual to create a Web site with a seemingly legitimate school, no matter how fake.
Unfortunately, the Internet can be a place where scams and counterfeit operations can target victims. So long as a diploma mill's Web site has convincing writing and appealing images, it stands to churn out fake degrees undetected. It is not difficult to register a Web site with a .edu domain name.
With access to: a quality color printer and fax; a phone number and email address; and good looking Web site, any individual can establish a diploma mill. Dr. John Bear is considered to be an expert in the field of distance learning, and his 2003 edition of Guide to Earning Nontraditional Degrees, unavoidably includes 481 phony schools.”
I hope you have found this informative; all I have left to say is Ba-a-a-a-h for now.