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Life experience degrees/distance learning

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by jim.baker 2 views

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As an IT manager and also one who has went to the school of hard knocks and sweat I wish to pose a question to you.

I have recently seen an multitude of "online" universities that will give a degree based on life experience. from the investigatiopn I have done the accreditation of these schools come from "regional" acreditation boards. Which generally means they have got a bunch of people together, called themselves some fancy name and said that the degree is good.

I guess my question is this: are these degrees worth the paper they are written on...and if so... which of these "universities" is the most trustworthy and responsible?

5 replies

by salamander

Personally, in the U.S., I wouldn't consider going anywhere that wasn't accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation at www.chea.org. If I'm spending my own money, I don't want there to be questions about the authenticity of my degree. I would personally be wary about anyone offering credit for "life experience." Check it over very carefully.

Here are links to two state offices that track diploma mills, in case you're curious:

http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/about.html

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Non-accreditedSchools_78090_7.pdf

by jdmercha

Check on who is accredditing the institution. You want one that is accreditied by the respective state board of education.

Two I am aware of are Empire State College in NY (I live in NY) and Thomas Edison State College in NJ (I have a BS from there). As a test of their worthiness (in my case anyways), can you get into a good grad school with one of those degrees?

by admin

You are incorrect in your assessment of regional accredition. I don't know where you got your information, but it is completely misleading.

For the facts, see:

http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg5.html

http://www.chea.org/Directories/regional.asp

http://adulted.about.com/cs/fasttrackoptions/a/accreditation.htm

http://www.geteducated.com/articles/dlfaq.htm

There are many, many more. Just input "regional accreditation" in any major search engine.

Best regards,
D

by jim.baker

Yes....I have been to most of the source you have listed here...and there are many manyy "regional accredition" boards...

However.... ( ever notice there is almost always a however or but?)...

most of the "regional acredition boards" listed on this sites offering a Life experience degree are not listed on the sites you quote..and reading thier material..the boards they are using are just what I said...a group of people they got together and called themselves some fancy name....

by admin

It's true that you cannot get a legitimate degree based solely or largely on life experience credits. However, there are many well-known and fully accredited schools that will grant some credit for experience (up to 30 undergraduate in some cases); i.e., DePaul University School of New Learning, University of Massachusetts, Indiana University, Thomas Edison State College, Ohio University, etc.

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