So, yeah, it must be pretty easy.

I get a little sick of people who complain about school churning out cogs, when the ability to function within systems is actually a really important skill to have.

@econobiker: That's flat out fraud with that lady and ' university ' -back dating degrees ? wtf . That's criminal fraud .

But while there is criminal fraud or schools whose's sole purpose is to get the student into a loan in order to pay them but there are still legitamite non traditionl 4 year college schools out there .

What that lady did was fraud pure and simple . What's really scarey is how did the background investigation miss that even if for a security clearance and not the job ?

Did this lady even have to turn in a term paper or take a final ?

Well, it all depends. Honestly, I'm going for an engineering degree and I'm learning insane amounts of stuff every year. If you want to get into any sort of engineering, science, or high-end field, you'll need that "expensive piece of paper" and the education that comes along with it. To be a secretary or something like that, or a technical vocation like mechanic, you should just go with a vocational school that'll teach you what you need for the job.

@u1itn0w2day: Here is why shutting down diploma mills matter:

[en.wikipedia.org]

This lady was getting over $100k for a gov't job that she was not qualified for.

And a big thank you to people willing to blow the whistle on her:
[www.reason.com]

@BytheSea: Please. If you went to a college where professors teaching summer classes expected less of you, than you went to a shitty college.

Summer classes and j terms are great for things like art, where hours a day in the studio is actually helpful, or certain lab sciences where you would already be spending tons of time in the lab.

I took a literature course over the summer, and it was murder. Yes, I can technically read 6 Victorian era novels in 4 weeks, but it's pretty hard to absorb any of them enough to then write critical essays. I had the opportunity to take a history class I needed to graduate (pre-thesis course, essentially) during the summer or the fall - definitely picked the fall. I couldn't even get the books I would need to write the research paper in the time alloted.

@P_Smith: Some unaccredited graduate programs might be legitimate, if they're attached to a legitimate college or university. It can take a couple of years to get the actual accreditation, but when they are granted they are retroactive for a certain number of years.

St. Kate's in the Twin Cities did this when they started a library sciences program. Unfortunately they completely botched the roll out of the program so some of their students' degrees will be completely worthless. But if they had set the program up correctly the lack of accreditation for the first couple of years wouldn't have been an issue.

University of Phoenix is not necessarily a bad education, from what I know of it. I worked with one of their instructors on another teaching gig, and I would put him on par with most college level instructors.

@nuton2wheels: Heh...WVU anyone...that is, if you are the Govenor's daughter.

This cat did not receive a G.E.D. It received a diploma from an unaccredited Georgia High School. A G.E.D. is only received by an individual after passing a five part national exam administered in secure conditions and only to those able to provide proper ID. Irresponsible reporting like this attaches a stigma that is undeserved to those who either have or are looking to get a G.E.D. Please correct this article as soon as possible. I believe an apology is owed to the G.E.D. program and those who have received a G.E.D.

Should Mittens sue for discrimination, apply for welfare benefits, and/or for disability?

If you check out degreeinfo.com (totally noncommercial site and oldest distance/online learning community on the web), you'll find a large message archive that will give you specific information on how to do this easily and quickly.

Offhand, I would suspect that credit-by-exam through DTTS and CLEP would be the fastest and least expensive option, but there are a number of schools that give in-state tuition rates to distance learning students who are out of state, and that can be a good deal too.

@RandomHookup: Didn't 60 Minutes do a thing where a doctor was administering intravenous peroxide treaments for cancer ? Was that the doctor's ' universtiy ' ?

@HogwartsAlum: Alot of seemingly innocent questions like that are there to help verify your id and or see if you tell the truth .

Or a securtiy clearance for a spy or something .

I hate to see students exploited or students exploiting these diplome mills for their own gains . I can't believe the traditional 4 year college degree is the only way to go . I think that's part of the reason these places exist . The traditional 4 year college path is too expensive,time consuming and sometimes totally irrelevant in the real world .

College or post secondary education will become like health care / health insurance -too darn expensive with the public screaming for help .

I blame corporate America for doing very little training basically treating all their new employees & promotees like contractors . The only difference is that instead of a trade license they want A degree .

@ZeGoggles:

The costs? The first thing I noticed was "the current motivational based format of JHSO." Nothing says motivated like being unwilling to leave your house in order to get a real GED!

@cmdrsass:
Wow, that's an asshole comment if I've ever read one. I graduated from a public high school then went on to graduate magna cum laude from a four-year university, handily beating out many of my private-school-educated classmates. I guess I'm just an outlier, right?

Those of us who weren't born into privilege have to take what we can get. How dare you minimize our experience just because you may have been born into better circumstances. Asshole.

@Haggie1:
The Univ of Phoenix has several physical campuses, including in Phoenix and Tucson. They also have a law school. I have friends who've gone to school there, even though I went to a traditional college.

It's a shame that people who know nothing about a school get on a website and trash it. That reminds me of a recent post in which someone stated that ASU graduates are illiterate. Even though I went to their rival school, that comment made me uncomfortable.

@j-o-h-n: Most PE classes are 1 or 2 credit hours at the most. That would take forever.

@Aesteval: I am going to have to send an email to a friend who is studying accounting but hasn't gotten that far into it yet to let them know about this.

@BytheSea: Ok.

@Ichiro51: +1 for an excellent point.

[img199.yfrog.com]

made a blank of the diploma i found on the site :]

Oh wait! - they probably would be rejected for being overqualified!

( and if you are a civil servant and read this, well - you can read, so I do not mean YOU. and you should know personally some of the folks I am talking about too!)

I'll be turning in Oreo for cheating.

It would be a better story if there were NO tests involved. Those are the real diploma mills. The ones where you write a check and get a diploma for "life experience". I've actually searched our resume database and found degrees from Columbia State University, which was exposed on "Sixty Minutes" years ago.

@wrjohnston19283: Studying information systems (computer programming, et al), the law or being knowledgeable in some other field is a good thing.

Try explaining to a bean counter why your company keeps buying from a more expensive supplier (i.e. reputation, quality of product) when said bean counter is trying to cut costs. Having someone who understands the facts of an issue will allow him to make better decisions.

@bobert:

Here's a link to the official US government agency which sets accreditation for colleges and universities:

[ope.ed.gov]

The real danger is not diploma mills; anyone who signs up with one knows what he or she is getting into. Expecting a four year degree with four weeks of paperwork should be a sign to anyone seeking a legitimate degree. If people pay for fake paper and get caught and publicly shamed, they deserve it. Remember Laura Callahan, George Bu**sh**'s Labor Department and Department of Homeland Security Czar, and how she lost her job?

The real danger is unaccredited universities which operate like real ones:

- their degrees are not recognized

- graduation is difficult because some of these "institutions" resort to unethical behaviors such as changing terms or credits needed for graduation

- credits earned are not transferrable to accredited colleges

- such "institutions" may have overly restrictive and dictatorial terms for student behavior including dating, clothing, living conditions

Such unaccredited "institutions" will charge as much for tuition and books as will reputable institutions, and their degrees are worthless in most cases. At least a diploma mill is, in most cases, a waste of $200, not $20,000.

The only example I could find of a legitimate but unaccredited university is Morris Brown College, which lost its accreditation in a financial scandal but is trying to regain it.

[www.morrisbrown.edu]

[en.wikipedia.org]

@cmdrsass:
And I'll bet that cat is less arrogant than 80% of PRIVATE high school graduates. Was that intentional? If so, you meant "government" schools, not public, right?

@bigd7387: You made a mistake? I most have missed it.

@bigd7387: "Congraduation": It is a nonsense word I have used for years. For the grammer/spelling nazis (and the other anal types): It is a combination of "Congratulations" and "Graduation." Yes, I am patronizing you, I'm pretty sure Oreo got the joke.

@cmdrsass: I'll bump that up to about 80% of high school grads and 40% of college grads. ;-)

@BluePlastic: I feel your pain. But at least it is now over.

@BytheSea: You came off as sounding like someone who has never taken a summer class in their life. Did you do your general education stuff or was your major really easy? I have never taken an easy summer class.

Wha? I just took a 4-week summer course of A&P II and now I'm barely alive. It's going to take me several days to recover.

My dog is smarter than your cat because my dog was able to purchase a phd (aka my poop is piled high and deep).

@wrjohnston19283: Actually most biology and chemistry classes (with lab) are 4 to 5 hours. So it would be 6 classes tops. Are you sure it has to be undergrad work? I would take graduate classes if I had to do 30 hours of extra work.

@BytheSea: ROFL! The idea that summer classes are easier because the professors expect far less. Bullshit! You have never been to college, have you? Or maybe you went but never attended summer classes.

I am getting a Masters in Physics (on the way to my PhD) and I just sat through two 5 week summer math classes that almost fucking killed me. The professors made it clear that this was 16 weeks of work in 5 so get ready for the ride. Granted it was still easier than what I do over the semester but look what degree I am getting. And I happen to be very strong in math.

The U of Phoenix is on the list because they are accrediated. I have friends who study online education and they say not all of it is bad and a scam. You do have to be careful though. Those types of schools tend to cater to those already in the workforce who don't have time to attend a class at x time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Because people will hire you based on the expensive piece of paper, while you can burn this piece to keep warm after employers laugh at your face.

He should take something he's passingly interested in. Education is an opportunity. Ykno, poetry, yoga, astronomy, something he'd always wanted to know more about.

I never understood the AICPA's requirement for 150 credits but not requiring accounting or business to be the extra 30.

How is having taken an extra ten classes in biology or chemistry going to make you a better accountant? If you are going to require an additional 30 credits, make people get a grad degree in accounting or business. Simply requiring them to spend more money isn't helping society.

I was on a jury in a case where the defendant made up a school, from which he got his "engineering degree." He used it to get hired as a county hydrology engineer.

He went so far as to make a website for it. During the trial in trying to deny that he made the school up he mentioned that "individuals can't register .edus." I looked it up (after the trial) and found no site, and all registry information that matched the details given was for a .org.

The school's street address was the house of a friend of his, where he'd parked his motorhome for a while. (That's all he said when asked why the school's address was a residence, at least)

He said his daughter had a degree from that school, too.

Anyhow, no one would have ever found out if he hadn't brought a criminal investigation down upon himself over a completely unrelated matter.

"JHSO provides a stringent internal review process for its overall program and particularly for its interactive learning platform and completion program."

Online Diplomas. Serious Business.

"In an effort to keep program cost down and the current motivational based format of JHSO, JHSO has not sought nor been approved by the US DOE, CHEA or DETC organizations and does not represent itself to be an "Accredited" program of any of these organizations."

Come on guys. They are just trying to keep costs down. :(

He can take credits in any subject, including basketweaving, as long as they are college level and on a transcript and from an "accredited" school (I know U of Phoenix is on the list). Does anybody have any recommendations for cheap/easy/quick college credits?

@Haggie1: If he doesn't get accepted, he can sue the school!

Now at the upper end where college is required every place I apply too has a background check thing I have to fill out.

Thanks to his diploma, Oreo now realizes "I can has cheezburger" is both ungrammatical and misspelled.

You'd think there would be better competition than that.

For instance, they have prominent links to a page on accreditation. When you get there, you read copious paeans of praise about the virtues of accreditation, listings of numerous international accreditation organizations, details on how the whole school accreditation process works, etc. etc. etc.

Then if you manage to get past the fulsome verbiage to the end, and if you ignore the blather about their internal standards and plans to someday offer financial aid, it pretty much is...

"Um, well, we're not accredited. By anybody."

=) that's always painful isn't it

@TCama: And what about the Tax Cat? Where did he get certified as a CPA?

@bigd7387: Just to let you know I was joking. Find my mistake.

@G00MAN: I hope your smarter than you sound since "Congraduation" is not a word. Now "Congratulation" is a word. Most of have gotten your degree from a mill, huh? Remember to spell before you slam.

In the larger company, while you haven't lied, they know who the diploma mills are and they'll either ignore that part of your resume, or they'll score it lower.

* - Unless, of course, the job involves the completion of homework assignments, going to class daily, and the ability to fill in the correct scantron pattern.

@Haggie1:

*Meow meow, meow mew meow*
Translation: "My name is Oreos, my school is Wyotech."

Now if only my lazy-ass cats would get out there and get a job. It's time to start earnin yer keep, boys!

Well, really how much does a H.S. diploma say about a person? You spend a few years being babysat and you get a piece of paper, intelligence not required. Congraduation Oreo.

Everyone knows it a lot more economical to just print up your own.