Okay, Helen’s most recent blog post got me curious, then I checked out the website she linked to and it made me mad. Let me not mince words, a totally bogus, rip off, worthless, destructive black hole of educational nothingness, just waiting on an ignorant soul to enroll so that they can fleece them of their cash and good faith while providing them with a cancerous blotch on their resume. Of whom am I speaking? This week it is http://www.almedauniversity.org/ who have fraudulently claimed to be accredited by an accrediting agency calling themselves the Council for Distance Education Accreditation with a name and seal that are remarkably close to the totally legitimate Distance Education and Training Council the DETC and they also claim accreditation from the less than worthless Interfaith Education Ministries the IEM, who indirectly links them to the United Nations forum (registry) for education UNESCO. By virtue of the IEM being in the UNESCO registry they claim to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and CHEA, at least indirectly. Therefore even though they may have it carefully worded not to specifically claim such accreditation they come dangerously close if nothing else. I quote:

”IEM, founded in 1965, is listed in the UNESCO Higher Education Institutions Registry (HEIR) under United States of America. UNESCO is the Educational Arm of the United Nations which is recognized by the Departments of Education of all countries members of the Lisbon Convention, including the U.S. Department of Education . UNESCO is recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).”
---http://www.almedauniversity.org/certification-accreditation.html

I have multiple problems with people of this ilk besides the obvious. For instance, it is not uncommon for a faith based school such as Louisiana Baptist University (albeit controversial to some) to not be accredited or to be accredited by a non-governmental recognized agency due to the belief in a separation of church and state or due to various religious institutions efforts to maintain as much autonomy from the government as possible. These schools are not illegitimate, but instead practicing a doctrine of answering only to God on Biblical teachings among other reasons. There are some swell people who work very hard to go to these schools and later become successful ministers. But schools like the above mentioned canker sore on the face of education (their name starts with “A” and ends with “lmeda”) exploit this type of practice in an attempt to legitimize their own soulless endeavor to steal money and misrepresent the truth.

Additionally they cause further confusion by creating bogus accrediting agencies which look and sound like a totally legitimate agency.

I don’t have a problem with unaccredited schools; all schools have to start from somewhere. Southern California University for Professional Studies (http://www.scups.edu/) are not accredited, but by most testimonies from people I know and trust they are legitimate. Additionally SCUPS makes no effort to conceal the fact that they are unaccredited nor do they attempt to claim official sounding accreditation that is totally bogus. I am not attempting to recommend SCUPS, I am merely using them as an example of a legit but unaccredited school vs. a diploma mill, degree by life experience, shyster farm like our friends (starts with “A” ends with “lmeda”).

So what’s the harm?

There are people who have a fake degree listed on their resume, sometimes innocently so, who may end up with a job, only later to be exposed and accused of being a fraud because of the degree being listed on their resume. In some cases these people being accused of being a fraud know exactly what they were doing when the list the degree, there have been others that were ignorant of doing so thinking that they had a legitimate credential. Our friends above (their name starts with “A” and ends with “lmeda”) are trying to exploit those who do not know better or provide some type of plausible excuse of ignorance for those who do.

The irony is that a fake degree can be just as destructive as they are claimed to be helpful. There was a city manager here in Texas who had a legitimate B.S. degree from a well known and respected state school. She later claimed an MBA from a school such as our friends above (their name starts with “A” and ends with “lmeda”) where the MBA was not needed for the position. She likely would have secured the job without the MBA due to her connections and years of service within that government. However after about 3 months on the job, a disgruntled employee did some digging into her education background and discovered the fraudulent MBA and the woman was disgraced and fired. A 20 something year career was flushed down the toilet along with her professional reputation all because of a degree that she technically didn’t even need. (Note: I searched everywhere for the link to the story but it was several years ago and I cannot find it. This was retold the best that I remember it.)

The consequences outweigh the benefit by a huge margin. Let’s get a few things straight.

1.) There is no such thing as a 100% life experience degree. There are schools that grant credit for life experience, but you will likely be required to take some class work at the least. More often than not, a lot of class work. Anyone claiming a 100% life learning credit degree is to be suspect.
2.) No legitimate school will back date a degree for you. You finish when you finish, I cannot plead with my former school to grant my B.S. effective 1997 when I earned it in 2007. Forget it. Anyone who offers this service is suspect.
3.) No school has a “jurisdiction”. Police, courts, governments all have jurisdictions. As far as I know, no matter how many students may feel like prisoners, colleges do not have persons under their governance.
4.) If you have a flat rate fee for a degree, for example $1,400 for a doctorate, be suspicious beyond reason. Most if not all schools break down programs per semester hour, quarter hour, class or even semester. I’ve even seen it charge per year or per 3 months, etc. I have never seen a legitimate school with a flat rate fee for the entire program regardless of transfer credits, credit needed or amount of classes needed to qualify for the degree. Maybe there’s one out there, if someone see them, please amend my post here.
5.) The individual states do NOT accredit schools or degree programs. A business license is NOT the same as being accredited or even state approved. Suspect anyone claiming a license to operate as accreditation.

The short of it.

Look people, earning a degree is hard. It takes money, time and sacrifice. There are some ways that are easier than others sure, but there are none that are 100% easy. One thing a degree provides employers is evidence that you can stick to something for a prolonged period of time with little or no immediate return on investment. In other words, you have BIG PICTURE THINKING. A diploma mill (life experience only degree) does not demonstrate that. There are legitimate institutions out there, some regionally accredited, that will accept some life experience, but none will accept it for 100% of the degree.

If you get a life experience degree you are setting yourself up for failure, if not now, then later down the road. Once you secure a job using a fake degree, that fake degree will be in your file even if 20 years down the road. It would be a crying shame to be terminated shortly before retirement because that degree became exposed. It’s not worth it, it’s not worth it, it’s not worth it. No ands, ifs, buts or maybes, don’t do it.

Secondly, if you have been mislead by a school and attained such a degree, be forthcoming with your employer or at the very least, never use that degree to qualify yourself again. Go back to school if necessary and do the right thing if the degree is needed for the job. Holding a fake degree then drawing a salary in which that degree qualified you for is akin to theft.

If you have doubts about a school or questions, ASK someone or do some research. Don’t ask just anyone though, people on this site are a good place to start, occasionally your Human Resources people can help, at the very least you can buy a book from a reputable author, such as Dr. John Bear, and read up on accreditation and distance education offerings. Don’t be afraid to do some research. Don’t allow yourself to be pressured into any program (not even the totally legitimate but often pushy University of Phoenix) until you are sure that this school and program are right for you. Don’t let others dictate your life and don’t try to take a shortcut.

I’ll end by saying this, and you can quote me, it is better to have no degree and qualify for a job via other means than to have a fake degree which WILL haunt you. Or, it’s better to have no degree than a fake one.

Whew, I feel better.

--Cajun

Note to readers:  This blog is based upon the opinions of the author only, feel free to disagree if you must.