Online Degrees – Steer Clear of the Diploma Mills
April 20th, 2009At least once a week, in my GMail inbox, I receive an email that goes something like this:
Buy a College Diploma, Get a 100% legal,
verifiable Degree in 10 days.
No coursework or exams.
Add Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctorate Degrees
to your resume in just 7 days
and open avenues to promotion and better jobs!
At your Own Pace!
At your Own Schedule!
At your Own Convenience!
No Examination!
No Study!
No Class!
These diploma mills insist that you can earn that coveted diploma provided you have significant life experience.
Earn a recognized University Degree
based on work or life experience within 7 days!
Get your desired degree on the basis
of your Prior Knowledge and Life Experience.
Then, to really drive home the illegitimacy of these proposals (as if the improper use of capital letters throughout the email were not enough of a signal), you get this closer:
No Experience? No Problem!
Give us a call NOW!
1-718-9895-740 [Inside USA]
+1-718-9895-740 [Outside USA]
Please leave us your:
1) Your Name
2) Your Country
3) Phone No. with countrycode if outside USA
We will get back to you real soon
Giving Online Education a Bad Name
These diplomas mills give online education a bad name. The idea that a degree based simply on life experience is clearly a bogus concept.
You fork over a decent sum of money (a few hundred dollars) and some college named St. Regis sends you a piece of paper that does tend to look official. Occasionally, a human resource office may be temporarily fooled, the important aspect being temporarily fooled.
These degrees are of course worthless and can never be equated with the work associated with earning a real college degree. After purchasing one of these bogus diplomas, not only will you be out the money you spent, you put your entire future in jeopardy if you try to pawn these off as the real thing.
While most purchasers try to plead innocence to any misrepresentation, employers will see anyone trying to pass these off as the real thing a major player in the sham.
Valid Online Programs
A school with online degree programs would never offer any such promise as “No Class, No Exams, and No Studying.” In fact, most students are surprised to learn that legitimate online programs can be very demanding.
Of course, college requires rigorous learning and online programs will mirror that expectation. You will be expected to complete all required coursework, work that can include online lectures and podcasts, written assignments and even exams in certain cases.
However, two aspects that diploma mills will use to entice potential buyers are two elements that online programs may feature. One feature of online programs is greater flexibility than one generally sees with traditional programming.
The notion that work can be done “at your own pace, on your own schedule and at your own convenience” is in fact one of the key aspects that makes online programming so enticing. Students work from remote locations and at a time of day or on those days of the week that fit their personal work schedule. Many online institutions also offer rolling admissions meaning flexible start and completion dates.
In addition, it is possible to earn credit for prior work experience or coursework. But to receive this credit, the school will expect applicants to demonstrate knowledge of the material through exams or a portfolio presentation. Then, applicants will receive credit for only specific elements, subsets of certain courses or perhaps a specific class.
All remaining courses will need to be taken – the idea that an entire degree or even a large portion of a degree program can be waived based on life experience is simply not true.
Online Education Here to Stay
The conveniences offered by online programs are extensive and those conveniences guarantee that online education is here to stay. Once the bastion of a few national online, for-profit schools, the demand for such courses and degree programs now has many larger universities offering online educational options as well.
These programs may be perfect for the person who needs to work while pursuing their degree. And once earned, these diplomas can be the real catalyst to a better job or a position of greater responsibility.
But if you are considering such a program, be sure to do your homework. Find accredited schools and be sure the accreditations are in the field you will be pursuing. Many schools have only certain programs that are credentialed so it is imperative to do your homework.
And as part of that homework, be sure to dismiss any thought of forking over a large sum of money to purchase a worthless piece of paper from one of these sham diploma mills.
