Which diploma mill lasted the longest?

This too shall pass. Gam zeh ya'avor.

But it sure gets annoying waiting for various diploma mills to 'pass.' How long did Ozymandias State University take to disappear from the scene?

The first big phony in my time, California Pacifica was closed down and its founder pleaded guilty and was imprisoned shortly after they sued me. I think they had been in business for 4 or 5 years, and a couple more in their earlier manifestation as Atlanta Southern.

North American University had been around 3 or 4 years when was closed down by the FBI and its founder imprisoned.

LaSalle University had also been in business 4 or 5 years when its founder pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was imprisoned

Columbia State first came onto my radar in 1990, and the Postal Inspector raid was 7 years later.

Given all the current flapdoodle, I find myself wondering how long [O Lord] before the current annoying perpetrators are but a memory? [Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.]

And that leads to wondering which phony survived the longest? I can't think of one longer than Columbia State, but other griots of this tribe may have better memories.

Bear Dude
BA, MA, University of California, Berkeley
PhD, Michigan State University
http://circledance.tripod.com

 

I thought that distinction belonged to the Sussex College of Technology (and affiliated schools).

 

Yes. Thank you, Gus, I think you're right.

I note doesn't seem to be selling degrees any more, just radionics equipment. Don't know when the degree-selling stopped, but more than likely Copen did it for about 30 years.

 

I still occasionally see ads for California Central University, and I first noticed them about 6-7 years ago.

BTW, these aren't huge glossy 1/2 page deals, more like the "tiny personal ads" that Don LaPre is so fond of.

 

Sussex College of Technology, ah the fond memories. One of the better degree mills. At least from the point of view that when victims bought their diploma they only paid $100 dollars more than it was worth because they only charged $100 dollars. Also better from the point of view that it would take super human powers of denial for anyone to actually believe that their degree was real.

I believe that someone I know might have paid their lawyer to try and get proof from Sussex College of Technology that years earlier the person had received a diploma from there. Unfortunately, it appears that Sussex College of Technology didn't bother keeping any records so instead, they offered to sell them another new diploma. This seems very fair to me because $100 wouldn't be all that outrageous to pay for a duplicate copy from a real school.

 

Sainz gets the answer again. What a surprise.



I would have said Cal Berkeley, just to get a gratuitous insult in for Bear Dude and Huffman. Founded 1868.

 

And if you were a Havard grad you might have said Yale.

--
JoAnn Peeler

 

Sussex also pioneered in the offering of diplomas either in English or Latin, and in two different sizes and, I seem to recall, two different styles: plane or fancy.

They were also pioneers in offering alternative school names if one didn't like Sussex. University of the Science of Man, and Brantridge Forest University (or School).

Isn't it illegal to sell radionics boxes in or to the U.S.?

 

Is a radionics box the same as that thing Wilhelm Reich used to push?

 

Sussex College of Technology

Having found a few old comments about this being a degree mill I decided to look it up only to find they are also apparently based in my area!

Apart from the equipment, I note that they do give separate pages for UK/Europe and for other countries and that each of these has a link labelled courses that lead to different sites.

The UK version offers medical degrees from a US online supplier www.mcqs.com.

The non-UK link takes you to a page offering courses from several bodies via a site www.bisk.com and the University Alliance.

These include Tulane University, Villanova University, University of South Florida, Jacksonville University, Regis University and Saint Leo University.

I cannot see any indication on their site that they are offering British degrees and therefore they are not in breach of the Education Reform Act. In fact since they only point you to the other sites they are probably not contravening the Trade Descriptions Act.

Their main sites appear to have admin contacts in Honolulu. Unfortunately, even if there was a provable offence I would not get a free trip out to investigate!