Stupid Policy at a Police Department

[sanantone]

I live in Bexar County, and the Sheriff's Office has this stupid policy of not giving education incentive pay for "internet degrees." Whenever I hear someone say "internet degree," I think of someone who can barely use a computer. They also won't accept degrees from institutions without physical campuses. Considering that they are obviously computer illiterate and uninformed about the current state of higher education, I doubt they can accurately determine whether a degree was earned through the internet. They can't just assume that a degree from University of Phoenix was earned online because they have physical campuses. They also can't assume that a master's degree from Texas A&M was earned on campus. In most cases, the transcripts and diplomas for online degrees are exactly like those of their campus counterparts, so the Sheriff's Office would have to ask someone if a degree was earned online if they can even think to ask. This is where this policy really gets stupid. Bexar County, probably without knowing it, is saying that they will pay you more for a degree from schools like University of Phoenix, Kaplan, Devry, and Strayer; but, they will not pay you more for an "internet degree" from Cornell, Stanford, Harvard Extension, Carnegie Mellon, University of North Carolina, George Washington University, or any of the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State, or University of Houston campuses. Without knowing it, they could also be paying someone extra for an associate's degree from the Alamo Community Colleges that was earned online. There is absolutely no way they can tell since those colleges are local.

Qualifying degrees must be from a college or university accredited by one of the six (6)
nationally recognized regional accreditation boards. Internet degrees, degrees from institutions
without physical campuses, degrees from diploma mills, or similar institutions shall not qualify

On page 25.
http://www.dsabc.org/docs/contracts/2012...heriff.pdf