Hello to all in degreeinfo land...I just thought I would share a rather unusual experience I had. Not knowing too much about non-traditional education before I discovered this forum, I did not know too much about "scam-type" institutions. I also didnt know why an accredited degree would viewed less in some arenas of the just because the format of learning was not the norm. Then after discovering SRU and others I began to realize why. These type of institutions contribute the negative stigma that is almost sometimes "crazy glued" onto legitimate accredited online institutions. So I decided to email a representitive from SRU asking why they would falsely state some of their many misinformed facts on their website and they told me that I was misinformed. That in fact, their degrees are equivalent to a U.S. RA degree and they had reputable agencies such as AACRA and NAFSA....has anyone heard of these?.... So I responded to their email by stating that I was not misinformed....and stated that people with their degrees would not be able to transfer credits to another institution in the U.S. or Canada.... This is their reply Sir: All of the evaluation agencies we recommend are members of AACROA and/or NAFSA Your accusations are completely false and without any credibility. We are not going to respond to any more of your email flames and we will report you for abuse if you continue your unfounded attacks. In any case, SRU will never admit a person of your limited mental capacity into any of our programs. We expect our students to be able to conduct research and to be able to comprehend research material at a college level, something of which you are obviously are incapable. This is our formal notice to you not to email us again One more email and w e will report you for spamming and abuse. Your IP has been logged and traced. SRU Support Staff Just thought I would share this really weird experience with you guys....by the way.....is their any merit to their claims of accreditation etc.....
Len, an apparent representative of SRU, posted here for a time. He made those same statements that SRU degrees are evaluated as equivalent to RA and that many RA schools accepted SRU degrees. He refused to provide any examples. After being pressed on the issue he said that he wouldn't give any specifics because then these fine upstanding organizations that liked to support SRU would be attacked and innundated with hateful misinformation. He went on to say that this has happened in the past. At which point I asked for one name of one RA school that wanted to accept SRU degrees but couldn't because they were afraid of misguided consumer protection do-gooders bothering them with misinformation and hateful correspondence. Poor Len was unable to give one name or come up with even an excuse as to way he couldn't give us one name. It all was most amusing! P.S. Thanks for posting the delightful email.
To the best of my knowlege neither NAFSA or AACRO do evaluations. They are mainly organizations comprised of Registrars, admisions councillors and transcript anylsts. Some of the members own their own credential evaluation companies, but most are members of the interational admissions offices of the universities across America. They also list NACES and AICE. These are groups that only Evaluation companies are members of. I have heard one charter member of NACES say that SRU should never be considered RA equivelant. Its all smoke and mirrors as far as I can tell for SRU.
mringer: To the best of my knowlege neither NAFSA or AACRO do evaluations. John: Assuming we're talking about AACRAO, and not a similar sort of acroynm of SRU's invention(AACROA? AACR?), yes they do do evaluations, and yes they have already made clear that they do not accept the degrees of St. Regis or any other school that claims Liberian accreditation through the National Board of Education. I'm quite sure their quote was posted here sometime a year or so ago. They are at www.aacrao.org.
Oops! I just noticed a glaring error in my previous post. I should have said, "Len, an apparent misrepresentative of SRU,". My most insincere apologies for my previous blunder.
Here is the AACRAO statement: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9321 The official SRU story is that there are two levels of Liberian accreditation: accreditation by the National Board of Education (NBOE), and accreditation directly by the Liberian Ministry of Education. NBOE "accreditation" was bestowed on several less-than-wonderful schools in the US and elsewhere that were not eligible for legitimate accreditation in their home countries. http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7376 But SRU, although owned by the NBOE, is said to have direct MoE accreditation, "identical to" two legitimate universities in Liberia, the University of Liberia and Cuttington University College. http://saintregis.edu.lr/accreditation.htm http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3630e393.0401271502.446d2d9%40posting.google.com But the person they refer you to to verify the accreditation, "Dr. T. Dan Jah (Lawrence) Bestman", "Executive Director, National Commission on Higher Education" is also on the SRU faculty, holding the title "Chancellor of Education Services". http://saintregis.edu.lr/faculty.htm The conflict of interest is clear.
This quote is completely unprofessional. I honestly doubt that any RA or DETC school would write such a scathing letter to a prospective student.
On January 28, I wrote: > But the person they refer you to to verify the > accreditation, "Dr. T. Dan Jah (Lawrence) Bestman", "Executive > Director, National Commission on Higher Education" is also on > the SRU faculty, holding the title "Chancellor of Education > Services". > http://saintregis.edu.lr/faculty.htm > The conflict of interest is clear. Well, they sure responded to that in a hurry. Bestman has been moved from his former place on the faculty page, and the "Chancellor" title has been dropped. He is now "Special Consultant on Educational Services programs", with the note "The following individuals are Special Consultants to the St. Regis University's officials. These individuals are not salaried or paid by St. Regis University, but do contribute their advice on governmental issues on a voluntary basis."
off with his head I suppose if they feel they can move his head from body to body, they can also change his title at will. Does Bestman even know he's on the Saint Regis faculty? G
I have a vision of a NORAD/Doctor Evil-like command center, deep underground wherever the "brain" of SRU is actually located. Huge, projection-style screens on each wall, with rows of uniformed technicians hunched over terminals simultaneously monitoring traffic on 300 sites or newsgroups. A senior official sits in a luxuriously-appointed office overlooking the floor, hand poised over a red button, waiting to scramble the ready-room of website designers at the first "blip" of the 'net. Apparently, the fastest way to get a message to SRU isn't postal mail, or e-mail, or a phone call, or carrier pigeon.
I have a vision of a degree mill honing its presentation and technique because of the guidance we give them. That makes them even more insidious.
I totally agree with the above assertion but unfortunately very little or absolutely nothing can be done to avert or thwart that kind of thing. Ike Okonkwo, PhD
