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Anyone
who uses the Internet or email has seen them—those
advertisements to “Get Your College Degree! No Study
Required!”
Seems to good to be true, right?
Well, it is. While there are many accredited colleges and
universities that are now offering degrees through online
study, there are many more that are completely bogus. Online
study is a
perfectly legitimate way to earn your diploma but it does
require study! You enroll in courses just as you would if you
were taking traditional, on-campus courses but instead
of sitting in a classroom, you sit at a computer.
The
sale of bogus online degrees, at an average cost of less than
five hundred dollars per diploma, has sky-rocketed in recent
years.
GetEducated.com,an
online degree
clearinghouse founded in 1989, tracks more than 200 fake
online colleges in the USA alone, twice that many abroad.
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In
response to the growing national crisis of fake degrees from
bogus online colleges, GetEducated.com launched a free online
degree accreditation verification service in
October 2004. That service, nicknamed The Diploma Mill Police
(SM), http://www.geteducated.com/
diplomamillpolice.htm, has responded to as many as 98 queries in
a single day.
Six
months after launch The Diploma Mill Police (SM) has responded
to more than 1000 queries about the legitimacy of online
colleges and the degrees they offer.
More than half the queries have involved fake colleges
that are, perhaps predictably enough, accredited by fake
agencies.
More
surprisingly, almost as many queries have involved questions
about the legitimacy of bona fide online educational programs.
Because
many people don't understand accreditation, they can't tell the
difference between a fake college and a real one. The Diploma
Mill Police (SM) helps protect
consumers from this seemingly unstoppable area of online fraud.
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The
Diploma Mill Police (SM) has fielded queries from as far away as
Hong Kong and is receiving escalating queries from
corporate
human resource officials. "Employers
want to know if job candidates have degrees from bona fide
educational institutions."
The free service has screened online degrees claimed by
people seeking jobs in medicine, homeland security, engineering,
childcare, and other knowledge-critical areas.
Visit the DIPLOMA MILL
POLICE:
www.geteducated.com/
diplomamillpolice.htm.
If
you are interested in getting a legitimate degree online and are
not sure where to begin looking, give the PCEC a call at
274-4877 or 435-9490 and we can get you started in the right
direction. Numerous accredited local universities are now
offering online degrees and/or courses including the University
of Pittsburgh, Mansfield University and Penn State University.
The Potter County Education Council can also proctor distance
education exams including those for online courses. Contact
either of our offices to schedule the PCEC as a proctor site if
you wish to take your distance education exams locally.
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