Which Online Colleges Are Scams?

Another important thing to consider is the cost. One online fully accredited school that advertises heavily on television offers an associates degree for $42,000 in an IT related field with no internship. But another fully accredited school offers a bachelor's degree, same field and with internships for $53000.

Cost basis, the bachelor degree gives you more than simply a lot of theory. The internship while you attend online classes gets your foot in the door doing the work before you graduate.

For a working adult returning to college for a first degree or to complete one, think about what happens after you graduate.

What is possibly the most informative about this piece is that no Online program is mentioned. Bob regularly gives names of organizations or companies in his writings. What this suggests to me is that he’s yet to find a worthwhile degree program that is entirely Online. In other words, to earn a useful degree you’ve got have some form of contact beyond contact over the Internet.
The suggestion that talking to successful graduates is an effective way to screen out ineffective programs is the way to go. College and university programs often use their graduates to help “sell” their programs. I’m regularly asked by my Alma Mater to talk to prospects. If the Online program can’t give you the names of five successful graduates who will talk to you, then go on to the next program.

I earned my Masters Degree at Walden University, and my doctorate at Nova Southeastern University. Both of these online programs delivered what they advertised. I believe I got an excellent education at both schools.

I teach at Kaplan University as an adjunct faculty member in the graduate program. As an instructor, I can state that my course is rigorous and provides the students more that the course description states. Since it is a Kaplan designed course, one can generalize that all their courses are designed with the same philosophy.

The other thing to bear in mind, once you have found a legitimate, accredited school, is to make sure that the qualification you are going to get will actually get you into the job/career you're interested in. It is really worthwile checking out job ads for the kinds of jobs you would like to have and finding out whether they want a bachelors degree or a diploma or a masters and whether they want specific majors within a general area. A less expensive qualification, even though it is from an accredited school, is still a waste of money if you can't get a job with it!!

I imagine that Bob hasn't mentioned names because there are way too many reputable universities and colleges offering reputable on-line qualifications. Most also offer their qualifications face to face, which is a good clue, but there are also very reputable universities that only function on line eg Capella in the US and Athabasca in Canada. If an institution is offering something that is very quick, very easy and/or very cheap, it's probably a scam. Otherwise, you need to read all the information very carefully to judge.

Another caution not mentioned is the fake accreditation ploy. Many times, the scam diploma mill will have also established a corresponding fake accreditation agency with an official sounding name which - you guessed it - lists the diploma mill itself as one of its "accredited" on-line colleges.

A related ploy is advertising statements that the diploma mill is "certified", or some such other similar term, by the state. Be aware that such certification by one or more states is usually legitimate, however it is academically meaningless. It does not certify anything about the legitimacy of the academic program or worth of the degree - only that they have filed official paperwork with the bureaucracy and have paid the required fee for being officially listed as conducting training and offering "degrees" in that state - even including diploma mills.

Lastly, one of the worst things a person can do is to include degrees from what will inevitably be found out, by the employer, to be a diploma mill on the resume as qualifications for a position.

This deception may not be discovered for months, or even years, but this ticking career time bomb will eventually turn up under the most unfortunate of time and circumstances and when it is long-forgotten and least expected by the otherwise excellent employee. This can be construed as fraud by the taken-in employer and usually results in immediate dismissal from the position and the firm and, not infrequently, results in prosecution by the authorities.

There is no short-cut to a worthwhile education and degree from a legitimate college/university, whether it is done on-line or through in person classes. Do not fool yourself and be taken in by a diploma mill.

I bought a course from The learning college, I lost my USB stick that they sent. I paid for the course and they never once contacted me after payment. They now have decided to contact me to say my course is expiring and can extend with 49.00 I told them about my USB being lost and they want 50.00 to resend. Bloody money making scam please people avoid this college

Dear ,

Do you recommend the Pebble Hills University USA? Is it accredited?

Cordially,
M. Amiri

I had the recent misfortune of being supervised by a Walden U. PhD candidate. As I had many more years of experience than he doing CD work, I was still taken aback by his lack of practice knowledge. He didn't even understand some basic confidentiality requirements. For some time he has stated he was working on a PhD at a CCREP accredited Univ.--never mentioning Walden which piqued my curiousity. Upon reviewing Walden's "mixed" reviews I have come to understand why such a pretender was studying there--no one would care in the least whether he had a skill set to counsel or supervise--he just had to pay his bills, jump thru Walden's many hoops and submit his dissertation. The fact that just about anybody can enter their doctoral program, even without a Bachelors, speaks for itself.

I say this in the public interest.