Quote:Chavez said the number of "diploma mills" or institutions that award academic degrees with substandard or no academic study are on the rise, prompting the legislation that makes using degrees from these schools illegal. The law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2005. Advertisement

Chavez said many people who patronize these so-called "diploma mills" are knowingly committing fraud, but many others are unwittingly duped.

He said the incidents involving Sisk and Hebert illustrate the need for potential higher education students to do their homework before they enroll in any school, especially obscure, for-profit universities.

Chavez said the higher education coordinating board's lists of accredited and non-accredited schools are a good place to start.

"When people buy cars or televisions, they do research before they buy and they should be doing the same things with their higher educations," he said. "Check out the school. Find out what kind of students they are producing. Make sure you will be getting a quality degree."

Quote:California Coast University is one on a list of about 400 institutions compiled by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board that have not been approved and whose degrees cannot be used in Texas. In fact, degrees from those institutions are described as "fraudulent" or "substandard."

Quote:Rose Ybarra,

I grew up in Sour Lake and worked in Beaumont in my high school years. Now, half a world away, I am stationed in England with the Air Force. Much to my dismay, I was reminded of home when someone sent me the article you wrote concerning the Professor at Lamar with the questionable Doctorate degree. While the information about her degree was accurate, the information concerning the college itself, as well as DETC, was not. I believe more research should have been done before these comments were printed. As I’m sure you’ve been made aware of by now, DETC is a leading accreditation agency by the US Government and the US Department of Education. Numerous federal agencies use them to accredit their programs, including all the branches of the military. To post that personnel with these degrees are criminal is simply very inaccurate/slanderous. Besides this, your article called CCU a diploma mill, I believe this has opened your paper up to legal issues should the college choose to pursue them; I for one am calling them tonight to ensure they are aware of these claims.

As you can probably tell by now, I am enrolled at CCU and I can assure you that they are NOT a diploma mill. The classes are very tough and all exams are proctored by my base’s Education Office. The US Air Force has paid for all of these classes, something they do not take lightly; CCU is an accepted college with ALL branches of the military because it IS accredited. Being stationed overseas, as I have been for the past 18 years, we do not have the option of attending a traditional brick and mortar college. Distance learning from an approved university is many people’s only choice when choosing to further their education. I will graduate next month with an MBA which will be accepted all over the country…except, according to your article, Texas. Doesn’t quite add up, does it?

While I have no power over what your paper decides to do, I would imagine an immediate retraction, or at the very least, a correction of the facts are in order. I am not alone in this feeling, if you were to read the responses to your article; you will see it has irritated several of your readers. I am also a moderator of an online educational forum; several of the members there are sending mail to the university as well. It seems it is in your paper’s best interest to resolve these inaccuracies.

Thank you for your time.

Quote:I find this article alarming—as it seems wholly inadequate that the information contained herein is available primarily for residents of the state of Texas and possibly only they are taking a stand against fraudulent institutions and their even more fraudulent accreditors. This problem has the potential to destroy the credibility of the United States government and our entire education system. I understand the following from this article:

“Although California Coast University asserts accreditation by Distance Education and Training Council…that organization is not...recognized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board…”

“California Coast University is one on a list of about 400 institutions…that have not been approved and whose degrees cannot be used in Texas. In fact, degrees from those institutions are described as “fraudulent” or “substandard.”

“Under the Texas Penal Code, the use of a “fraudulent” or “substandard” degree is a Class B misdemeanor.”

There’s much work to be done here, but I’ll start with what appears to be most important. First, someone from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (“THECB”) should immediately contact the U.S. Department of Education and alert them to the fact that they have been identifying the DETC Accrediting Commission as a “nationally recognized accrediting agency under Public Law” since 1955. I don’t think I have to explain any further the damage this could cause to the credibility of the U.S. Department of Education should their endorsement of DETC--accreditor to learning institutions that issue fraudulent and substandard degrees--become common knowledge. I have the same grave concerns with regard to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (“CHEA”). If this becomes common knowledge, their credibility will be shot as well, as they also recognize the DETC.

Next stop should be all branches of the US military, who have unwittingly been duped by the DETC and are, even as I type, offering programs accredited by the DETC.

Finally, the last in this first pass of notifications should go to Governor Perry. You can imagine my shock (and I’m sure his when he finds out) when I discovered that Western Governors University (“WGU”) includes DETC in its list of accreditors. For those who don’t know, here’s a short description of WGU from their web site:

"Truly a university without boundaries, Western Governors University is a non-profit university founded and supported by 19 state governors to serve the needs of today's citizens. At no other time in the history of higher education have the governors of several states joined together to create a university. In addition, WGU is supported by over 20 leading U.S. corporations and foundations."

Their description of their regional and national accreditation, in part, is as follows:

"Why is WGU's regional accreditation important?
Regional accreditation means that WGU's competency-based programs meet the same educational standards for performance, integrity, and quality as those found at other more traditional universities, from large state schools to Ivy League universities. A team of evaluators representing four associations made on-site visits to WGU over a period of two years to review WGU's operations. Based on the reviews and the visiting team's report to the accrediting commissions, WGU was granted regional accreditation. We went through a similar process for our national accreditation by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)."

Imagine going through all that for a fraudulent national accrediting agency! I’m sure they thought the addition of national accreditation would be helpful. Little did they know that they invited fraud and deceit to their doorstep!

What does this have to do with Governor Perry? Well, I found the following at the WGU website:

"Governance of WGU
WGU is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of educators, industry leaders and state governors. In addition, WGU continues to draw support…from the Governors of the Member States that were instrumental in the founding of WGU."

To my horror, included in the list of member states—you guessed it—Texas.

barcotta Wrote:What does this have to do with Governor Perry? Well, I found the following at the WGU website:

"Governance of WGU
WGU is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of educators, industry leaders and state governors. In addition, WGU continues to draw support…from the Governors of the Member States that were instrumental in the founding of WGU."

To my horror, included in the list of member states—you guessed it—Texas.

Katterina Wrote:Was the issue resolved? Their list of unaccredited/ illegal schools still shows CCU, but refers to CCU degrees prior to 2005 (when CCU became DETC accredited).

So now- if a CCU doctoral student finished their degree in 2005 or later, I guess their degree is considered accredited by that list, even though those degrees were never approved by the DETC? Way to go, Texas Board.