I came across an ad for this "university" while reading an article from the MSNBC website. They offer "life experience" degrees and it appears the only accreditation they have is from something called the "Association for Online Academic Excellence". I'm not sure MSNBC has any say as to whether this ad is linked to their page, but the school seems very questionable. MSNBC can't need the money THAT badly. You can find the link here: http://almedauniversity.org/career-builder.html?source=541 To their credit (I guess) Almeda University includes this disclaimer: The AOAEX is not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the seven official regional accrediting agencies. This non-recognition may have some implications to include, but not limited to: 1. Almeda University is unable to participate in the Federal Student Loan / Financial Aid program. 2. Almeda University is not authorized to accept the GI Bill. 3. Almeda University is unable to guarantee acceptance of its degree programs in other postsecondary institutions except those accredited by the AOAEX. 4. Corporations are not required to recognize degrees from Almeda University. Almeda University expected to pursue regional accreditation in 2003; however, the accreditation requirements changed to exclude institutions that offer a majority of credits through experiential learning. Throughout the year (2004) Almeda will be reconsidering its corporate strategy to determine whether to become an online university without offering experiential learning credits or to maintain its current position as non-regionally accredited. Most applicants seek Almeda for which it is best known: to obtain life experience credit equivalencies. Without this process, many of the current applicants (that are requesting this accreditation status) would be excluded from admission for the same reasons accreditation would become feasible.
