My seniors are in the process of considering postsecondary education, and given the proliferation of fraudulent sites purporting to offer postsecondary degrees (and the reality that online education is increasingly attractive during a pandemic), it is important for graduates and their parents to know identifiers of potentially fraudulent or otherwise shady online *insitutions of higher learning.*
To that end, I found a listing of fake universities (“degree mills”) on the site, geteducated.com. For each fake or otherwise suspicious school, the site offers a brief explanation of the problems with the school, including important information about accreditation (i.e., the way in which the public can know that a program or institution actually delivers a quality education), cautions about fraudulent operators choosing names that sound similar to respected institutions, and even the web address can be an indicator (ending in .edu is likely legit, but ending in .com is suspect).
Below are a few excerpts from the hundreds of entries on the geteducated.com “Degree Mills” listing:
Abet International University
This online college is not accredited by any agency recognized by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation or the US Department of Education. This college is licensed to operate as an educational business in the State of Michigan.
Abet International posts a telephone contact number in Michigan (USA). No mailing address can be confirmed in the USA. No college accreditation can be confirmed to award degrees. This business has previously advertised as operating from Florida and offering cheap, fast MBA degrees. …
American Capital University (Various Locations)
There is no accreditation status for this school. It is not recognized by the US CONTINUE READING: Beware of Fake Colleges. Learn to Recognize Them. | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
