Know any Graduates of Online Degree Mills?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay, so maybe I’ve been living a sheltered life, but until very recently I had no idea that there are a whole bunch of online degree mill companies which claim to give you credit for your “life experience.” You can purchase your BA, MA, or PhD from these places (for a couple hundred dollars, generally), and they claim to be accredited degrees. (Of course, their accreditation comes from irrelevant organizations). Most of the advertising goes along the lines of “no courses and no studying!” These places claim to give you a “genuine” university degree in anywhere from 5-30 days.

Here are some examples:

http://www.belforduniversity.org/index.html

http://www.faringtonuniversity.org

http://www.ashwooduniversity.net/

http://www.saintregisedu.org

The websites are actually quite entertaining to browse through. Especially when they start knocking “traditional methods of education” in favour of their own…er…methods. I absolutely loved the testimonials on the Belford University site; here are a couple of brief examples:

“Although I was already holding the post of Human Resource Manager, but the lack of degree in this specific area was what I always aspired for. Thanks to your services, I got a degree for my invaluable work experience.”
-Sarah Brian, Bachelor’s Degree, Human Resource Management

“Holding a Doctorate Degree is hard to explain. I did not know it could be that easy to recognize my research in this area.”
-Fredrick Heinz, Doctorate Degree, Environmental Engineering

Amazingly, a LOT of people seem to be buying these (if we can actually trust the numbers published on the websites); Belford claims 72,000 “graduates.”

Anyhow, here’s my question: I want to hear some anecdotes! Do you actually know anyone who has bought or considered buying such a degree? Have they actually used it to get a job? Were their credentials ever questioned?

2

Well, I don’t know him personally, but “Dr.” John Gray, author of those “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” books apparently got his “doctorate” from a degree mill.

3

At the last college I worked at, we had people come in to teach low level non-major courses. One of these seemed to be pretty good, and we let her know that if she had a PhD, she might get moved to tenure track. She tried taking a course at a local state school and tanked it. Then she was doing something else for a while, and when we advertised our next open position, she sent in her resume complete with a brand new PhD listed. Now way she could get a PhD in less than a year. I checked into the “school.” Ugh. The chair wanted to at least interview her, but I had to strongly argue against that.

Basic points:

  1. Getting a bogus degree is Not A Good Things.
  2. Listing a bogus degree on a resume is An Even Worse Thing.

And so we never used her again, even for stuff she used to teach. (But I never actually got to see her after she obtained her “PhD”, only before.)

4

The nutsack for whom I used to work – I call him The Mad Doctor – was proud of his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from Columbia Pacific University, which was ordered to cease operation in 1999 by the Marin County Superior Court. The Mad Doctor is listed by name on this page at quackwatch.org

5

I know a guy who has one of these degrees. He insists on being called “Doctor”, not Mister. He never went to any real college. Talk to him for 15 minutes and you’ll know he has no higher education.

Other than the bit of name weirdness, I don’t think he’s ever gained any advantage from being Dr. Kirk.