USA Today Classified Ads

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Guest, May 3, 2001.

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  1. Guest

    Guest Guest

    While perusing today's edition of USA Today I came across several interesting classified ads under the Education section.

    Ad One:

    All Degree Levels, Don't enroll in any school until you use our free evaluation service. Over 500 accredited schools. Life/work experience credit. Student loans. www.arrc.org

    Ad Two:

    Kensington University, A quarter century of excellence, BA-Ph.D. plus law degrees. www.kensington.edu

    Ad Three:

    Columbus University, bachelor, master and law. Accredited Distance Learning Curricula. www.columbusU.com

    Ad Four:

    LaCrosse University, Global leader in distance education. Bachelor, Masters, Ph.D., law. Accredited by WAUC. www.lacrosseuniversity.com

    Has USA Today become somewhat of a Bears' Guide for unaccredited schools?
     
  2. uxu

    uxu New Member

    MAybe I could start my own home business as well... put up a slick website, buy some certificate paper from OfficeDepotMax, and sell them.

    Unfortunately USA today suffers from ethical relativism.
     
  3. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I don't know if John will respond to this directly, but he worked with that paper regarding its advertisements for unaccredited schools. They listened, then said they would eliminate them. That was 4 years or so ago.

    The USA Today used to also have accredited schools advertising, but it seems they've all gone elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if it was (1) Those schools didn't want to be associated with the ones in question, and (2) They probably got a lot of inquiries from unqualified students looking for a degree mill.

    Rich Douglas
     
  4. David Yamada

    David Yamada New Member

    No doubt the mills know that USA Today is sold all over the world. It's a great place to fish for foreign students.
     
  5. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    And that's really the point, isn't it? I've always maintained that the real market for schools like that is overseas, particularly in the highly developed nations in Asia.

    It is routinely noted how simple (to us) state authorization of an otherwise horrible school looks pretty good overseas, where approval by the government is the real deal.

    The USA Today only makes this worse. But so does the Economist Magazine, except that legitimate schools also advertise in the Economist. (One has to wonder how they feel having their ads right next to the diploma mills.)

    Rich Douglas
     
  6. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Perhaps the same way I would feel if someone who had a Trinity C&U doctorate, had their credential recognized as equal to my RA doctorate.

    A few adjectives do come to mind:

    Angry!
    Sad!
    Frustrated!
    Aggravated!
    Disturbed!
    Concerned!
    Nauseated!
    Sickened!

    I don't know, maybe its just me! [​IMG]

    Russell
     
  7. Scott W. Metcalf

    Scott W. Metcalf New Member

    Hey Russ--don't hold back, man! Tell everyone how you really feel about this! [​IMG]
     
  8. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    An advertising ombudsman at USA Today really sounded alarmed after we talked four years ago. On her own, she worked up clear and good guidelines for acceptance of school ads, and sent them to me for comment. They were great. She thanked me so much for bringing this terrible problem to their attention. And then nothing changed, and she stopped responding to my inquiries.

    There were two new approaches in USA Today last week. One was a consumerist-sounding ad, saying to get someone's report to help avoiding a bad school. I called the toll free number, and while no school or organization was identified, the message did say it was from prominent educator Harry Boyer, based on his decades of experience.

    I believe Boyer was founder of the nonwonderful Columbus U, and later involved with the nonwonderful LaCrosse or perhaps it was Bienville. I believe he was also a consultant to LaSalle after the FBI raid. I haven't yet received the materials promised.

    The other ad was from a lawyer asking for people who were wronged by a school to contact him. I spoke to him briefly. He was cordial; aware of my books; but not eager to talk about what he was up to.

    John Bear
     
  9. John Bear notes:
    Yep, he has experience all right -- the domain name for LaCrosse shows him as the administrative and billing contact. Actually, it looks from the WHOIS info as if he can't quite make up his mind about school names:
    Registrant:
    Lacrosse University (LACROSSEUNIVERSITY-DOM)
    127 Hwy 22-east, Suite E-11
    Madisonville, LA 70447
    US
    Administrative Contact, Billing Contact: Boyer, Harry Dr (HDB35) [email protected]
    Brighton University
    127 Hwy. 22 East, Suit E11
    Madisonville , LA 70447
    504-845-7462

    The "Welcome from the President" on their website is from Colleen Twomey Boyer, Ph.D., President.

    More trouble with names -- through Google I found Colgate school news from July 1997 with this:
     
  10. Guest

    Guest Guest

    Good points Rich. The same thought occurred to me when I saw materials from SCUPS that had happy graduates from Asia on the flyer. I realized (being a originally a Canuck) that many foreign students would look to see if the state authorized the program and assume that meant it was the equivalent of governmental authorization/accreditation in their home countries.

    I was reading USA Today in a hotel a couple of days ago and was surprised to find that (IIRC) all of the schools listed were unaccredited. People see the schools in a paper like USA Today or a prominent Airline Magazine and it lends some credibility to the schools. These schools do wonderful glossy ads that match up to the accredited ads in the same magazine.

    North

     
  11. Guest

    Guest Guest

    As usual you make a fine point North. By their very presence in a reputable publication it does indeed lend credibility to the schools in question. Not in the sense of making their programs or degrees any more legitimate, but in the minds of prospective students, seeing the ad in a well known publication appears to make the program LOOK legitimate. And you are correct in noting that every school advertised in USA Today is unaccredited (at least the edition for 5-3-01).

    Many publications advertise in the same manner: USA Today, Christianity Today, Charisma, Pulpit Helps, are just a few.
     

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