Some Master’s Degrees Are the Second Biggest Scam in Higher Education

[cardiacclep]

These scams include Ivey League colleges and other elite universities.

In 2019, Carey took a long, dispiriting look at the rise of so-called online program managers, or OPMs—the private companies like 2U that major universities from Yale to small schools like Oregon’s Concordia University use to build their online offerings. These companies design and operate courses on behalf of schools—sometimes essentially offering a class in a box—that the university can slap its branding on. The OPM then takes as much as 70 percent of tuition revenue. That money is largely being funded with government loans, which may never be paid back.

So to the extent that you’re selling selectivity (bachelor's degree), you actually have to back it up with data, whereas, in the master’s degree market, you can call almost anything a master’s degree.

I think, an enormous temptation for institutions that have very attractive brand names, that are attractive in no insignificant part because their undergraduate programs are very selective, to open up the floodgates on the master’s side and pay no penalty in the market because people don’t know they’re doing it.

Some Master’s Degrees Are the Second Biggest Scam in Higher Education
https://slate.com/business/2021/07/maste...th-it.html

#1 Biggest Scam is certificates
There are certificate programs for various things such as Digital marketing, Data Analytics, and so on. These certificate programs' costs can range from 2k to 25k.
https://www.gradreports.com/trends-insig...-price-tag

Why would someone call these programs scams?
1. The university doesn't disclose who made the program, who runs the program, and who is making money from the program. You think you are paying for a premium education from a top school when in reality, you are purchasing something no more valuable than a Udemy course and being run by people that are no different than the ones being offered by fly-by-night schools.

2. They often let anyone take these programs and are not selective at all.

3. Certificate programs add no value to someone's resume, as employers don't care about these programs. 

Lessons Learned
Be careful chasing status from these elite universities, be aware of what you are buying, and what value you will get from it.

But many of the same universities would reject a third party like Straighterline for gen ed courses. The higher ed hypocrisy is maddening. Higher ed is a big slowly (maybe rapidly) imploding mess.