Potential Capella problems-see Sarasota

I just spoke with a Sarasota rep yesterday evening and have learned the following that may be interesting to anyone pursuing a distance PhD or DBA. The program at Sarasota is accredited and involves 15 courses - 8 on line and 7 one week seesions - the cost is approx. 1300 per course so the degree will equal 26,000. You are only charged for the courses you take, you can take as many terms off as you would like and unlike Capella you know in advance what the degree will cost.

My question is what am I missing here. This sounds so much better then Capella - granted I would have to spend 7 weeks in Fl but that is over the course of 3 to 5 years. Nothing to complain about there. Thus 4 years at Capella are going to cost me 48,000 while four years at Sarasota are going to cost me - 26,000...

Has anyone heard anything about Sarasota?????

 

Sarasota is referred to as a DIPLOMA MILL http://www.linuxmafia.com/pub/skeptic/files-to-classify/icrextra.txt


TITLE : Creationists' Credentials (or is Ignorance really Bliss)


In a recent article [email protected] (Callen Roy) writes:

"Here is a fairly complete listing ICR faculty and their degrees, taken
from the 1987-1988 ICR Graduate School catalog. I have added, in
parentheses, the fields in which they received their degrees, whenever
I was able find this information." [ deleted stuff addressed below ]

"[ ... ]
* Bliss, Richard B....................Director of Curriculum Development
....................Chairman of Science Education Dept.
[ ... ] Ed.D. (Science Education Emphasis), University of Sarasota, 1978
[ ... ]"

The University of Sarasota is a nonaccredited diploma mill with no campus
and is located in a Florida motel. Bliss wrote his "doctoral thesis" on the
"two-model" teaching of origins. He has accused evolutionary scientists of
"intellectual dishonesty" and insists that he is "a recognized expert in the
field of science education". Note that Bliss claims that he received his M.A.
in 1972 and not in 1978 as you have indicated above. [1]

By the way, you seem to have missed Dr. Harold Slusher at the ICR. Slusher
claims to have an honorary D.Sc from Indiana Christian University and a Ph.D
from Columbia Pacific University. Indiana Christian is a Bible College with
a 1/2 man graduate science department (one person for both math and science)
and Columbia Pacific is nonaccredited. [2]

On a related note, Dr. Kelly Seagraves of the Creation Science Research
Center (CSRC - a bitter rivel of the ICR) claimed to have both an M.A. and a
D.Sc until 1981. After exposure his D.Sc suddenly changed to D.R.E. (doctor
of religious education). He claims that his M.A. is from Sequoia University
although a search for that school proved fruitless. The closest match was a
Sequoia College, which offers 2 year associate degrees (and has no record of
Seagraves). He insists that his D.Sc was honorary from Christian University.
A computer search shows that school to be located in Jakarta, Indonesia. [1]

Dr. Clifford Burdick (CSRC) claims to have a Ph.D in geology from the
University of Physical Sciences in Phoenix Arizona. Unfortunately, neither
the Phoenix telephone book nor the State of Arizona Board of Regents has the
faintest idea where the school is located. [1]

Dr. Carl Baugh claims to be an archaeologist with a Ph.D from the California
Graduate School of Theology in Glendale. The Western Association of Schools
and Colleges says this school is nonaccredited (not to mention that theology
was expelled from science over 400 years ago). [3]

"[ ... ]
You'll note that some very well-known and respected universities are
represented.
[ ... ]"

 

I may not know much but I know the school is accredited and several students have made comments to me that the work and the expectations are extremely high.... Thus someone either them or you has a problem with the truth.......
Note that Bear's and Peterson's guide state that the university is accredited

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE????????

 

I agree with you - but this a just a lesson for the ""WISE" and "LEARNED" - even the RA Schools can be referred to as "DIPLOMA MILLS"- I guess in the case of SARASOTA - with time we will forget what they use to do - not a very clean history - but the same can be said of WALDEN, CAPELLA and UNION INSTITUTE.

 

RockyLands-

You need to do a little more research on your facts before making such posts. The University of Sarasota is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (one of the regional associations). You can verify this on their website www.sacscoc.org .

One thing to remember about the Internet, anyone can post anything, truthful or not (as your source did & as you just helped perpetuate).

 

Please disregard this article campers because it has no merit. It is null and void. University of Sarasota is fully accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SACS is one the six regional accrediting agencies recognized by the department of education.

Ike

 

1. Sarasota was not accredited when the person in the article earned his degrees there.

2. This kind of thing points out the continuing fragile nature of distance learning, especially regarding schools that specialize in it.

3. The poster was merely pointing this out, as opposed to saying (wrongly) that Sarasota is not accredited. The article said that, but then that goes to further demonstrate my second point.

Rich Douglas

 

There is actually quite a complex and convoluted past here -- but it is from really long ago.

Laurence University operated in Florida in the 1970s, including from a motel. As I think I remember it, after pressure from the state, the founders went off in three directions.

One took the school (or parts thereof) to California as Laurence University of California which, after pressure from the University of California, became the University of Santa Barbara -- unaccredited but still operating.

One went to Arizona, as the University of Central Arizona, which was soon after enjoined by the state from operating, and closed forever.

And the third remained in Florida, as the University of Sarasota, which was not too wonderful at the start (when I attempted to visit in 1979, they were not overly friendly, to say the least), but got better and better, and more and more respectable.

So there is a checkered past, but so old, and so irrelevant to today's operation, it is only there to be found in internet searches.

Say, why don't they try to avoid this by changing the name to Arglebargle University or Argument University or Argh-Oh-See University or something.

 

How about Sarasoda? It would defeat the search engines and the name sounds refreshingly similar.

 

What's the protocol around schools that change their names. At the Nova Southeastern site all of the home grown profs seem to be listed as having received their degrees from Nova Southeastern University, even though many or most received their degrees from the school when it was known as Nova University. Which form is correct. Can someone who received a degree from Lawrence legally claim that it's from Sarasota?