Mon 5 Feb 2007
It’s no secret that online education has become more popular than ever. It offers students a chance to finish their degree without the restrictions of campus visits and (speaking from personal experience) the quality of education is—not only comparable—but improving every year. Prestigious institutions of higher learning that are offering online education are:
George Washington University, Villanova, Gonzaga, Regis University, Penn State, Auburn, and Boston University. The advent of high quality, online education has also ushered in the rise of parasitic entities that will take your money and leave you with nothing but a useless, yet official looking certificate. Enter the Degree Mill…
How to spot a Degree Mill
According to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), degree mills are a billion dollar industry that pose as legitimate schools or offer to sell transcripts outright for little or no work. If a student can earn a Bachelor’s degree in a year or less based only on “life experiences”, chances are you have stumbled on a degree mill. Some states such as Michigan and Oregon keep lists of suspected degree mills.
The best way to investigate whether or not an online program is legitimate is to check the school’s accreditation. There are six regional accrediting bodies* that oversees the educational standards of U.S. Colleges and Universities and is recognized by the Department of Education: (more…)