Online University Degrees

How Legit is an Online University Degree?

It is easier than ever to get a college degree! Whether or not you graduated
from the school is now irrelevant! On the other hand, the fastest growing sector in the world of higher education is "distance education" where one can attain an undergraduate and graduate education, specialized certification, or professional degree through the Internet. This article discusses the two main areas regarding online college degrees. One involves fraudulent online degrees and the other concerns the wave of intensive growth in distance education.

Real Online
Universities

Universities are a strange breed. They are non-profit institutions that are looking to make a profit and stay alive, amid a plethora of competition. The statistics behind online universities is impressive. International Data Corporation Online recently reported that online universities are growing by 33% annually. The largest and most well-known is the University of Phoenix - Online which is their cyber-branch, so to speak. They are clearly in the for-profit university category and are raking it in.

Just like
regular businesses saving money by running an online store without a
brick and mortar location, these universities profit by not having
to set aside the physical space and facilities. They also target
people around the world, regardless of geographic location.

Does an Online College Degree have any Value?

The truth is, schools that are accredited offer diplomas that are really
worthwhile. For geographic, financial, or quality of life (such as
limited time) reasons, completing a legitimate degree online can be
satisfactory. The majority of real universities do accept applications from
potential students who have completed prior degrees online. This is
true for both undergraduate and graduate-level candidates.

According to Vicky Phillips, CEO of GetEducated.com, the hottest online university degree is the Master's of Business Administration (MBA). More students
are working on their MBA through an online university than for any
other area of study that is offered by legitimate Internet-based institutions.

As with any business, there are many competitors and scam artists trying to get in on the action. Scam universities are popping up all over the Internet
and in some cases, it is difficult to stop them. There are clear
differences between legitimate online degrees and fake diplomas.

Diploma
Mills

Fraudulent degree website companies are frequently called 'degree mills' due to their rapid production and distribution of fake diplomas. Many of them have been
around for decades and are exploiting the Internet to increase sales.

Credit
for "Life Experience" Degrees

Most of the online universities function in the same manner. They
offer credit for life experience. Essentially, all one must do is
demonstrate their life experiences and pay the university's fees
(typically several hundred dollars), and they will mail you a diploma. At face value this sounds good since many people do have more practical experience than a formal education.

You can also get a transcript with artificial grades and a list of
courses for which you received 'equivalency' for life experience. How bad
is this educational fraud? Some of these diploma mill websites offer to graduate
you with honors for an additional fee!!

The problem is that under most state and federal laws, "life experience"can only account for a small minority of the student's overall degree-related credit. Degree mills ignore that fact and frequently claim to be accredited by official agencies which are equally bogus, in practice.

The Diplomas

The Diploma itself typically looks impressive and is indistinguishable from a
real college or university diploma. Moreover, the names of these online "institutions" generally sound great, mimicking real
universities.

Clearly the companies offering these diplomas have no integrity and worse, they
make the rest of us who have worked hard for our degrees come into
question.

Scam University Diplomas Can Get You a Job and a Raise

Aside from making it easier to get a job, in some professions such as
teaching, proving that you have an advanced continuing education certificate or higher education degree can lead to a pay raise. In 2003, about a dozen
teachers in Georgia who claimed to have Doctoral degrees from the
bogus Saint Regis University were caught.

Government Employees Busted for Fake Diplomas

In May of 2004, an investigation revealed that nearly 500 government
employees got their jobs by claiing they had degrees from these
diploma mills. This included 28 high ranking officials and 3 with US
high level security clearance.

In late 2003, a Maryland investigation resulted in the firing of a newly appointed Homeland Security director on his first day of work after it was discovered that he included a La Salle University "PhD" on his resume with his application for employment. House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis has stated that "public trust in government is a key pillar of our democracy. There is no place for diploma mill degree holders to work in our government, especially when we are talking about homeland security. "

Diploma Mill Crackdown

There has been a crackdown on many of these companies which is good news for
people who have legitimately worked hard to achieve their diplomas. In
fact, these companies basically set up a website and sold a piece of
paper. That's what it comes down to. They all claim to check your
previous coursework and prior life experience but that is rarely the
case. Visit their website, pay by credit card and you'll have a
diploma within days.

The scary part of this whole scam is the range of degrees offered. You can get
an Associates Degree, Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, Doctorate,
Law School Diploma, and even a Medical School Diploma. Imagine someone
with a fake degree operating on you!

While some states are investigating fraudulent online universities, others such
as Hawaii, Wyoming, and Montana actually allow them to exist and sell
diplomas under the agreement that they have some sort of real world
presence within their state.

How to Recognize a Diploma Mill

How can one recognize a legitimate online college or university? One
superficial way that will work in most cases is to look at the actual web
address. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the
international organization that dispenses domain names (web addresses). Websites offering commercial products and services end in .com and non-profit organizations end in .org. Officially accredited schools typically receive the .edu designation. For example, Stanford University's web address is Stanford.edu.

It is easy to get a .com or .org designation since anyone can go to a domain name
registration website and purchase the name for about $25/year.
However, it is somewhat difficult to obtain a .edu domain name so the
first thing to check is the web address itself which can give you a
clue as to whether or not the "college" is real or a company
looking to make a quick and easy profit by selling you a piece of
paper for a few hundred dollars.

If you are curious about the validity of a given school or website you can read
the list of accredited schools and check with the US Department of Education for detailed information.

The Bottom Line

Completing a degree using a college or university that is online can
be fulfilling, constructive, and beneficial provided that the school
is legitimate.

posted by Jason Newst @ 9:05 PM