Ameda Unversity

Greetings! New member here!

Had a chance to review and get involved with a possible degree through Almeda ... seemed legitimate enough until I was asked if one certificate granted could be back-dated 30 months. I cancelled with them.
I had a chance to read the article "How to Spot a Degree Mill
in 75 Easy Steps" by author and diploma mill expert Steve Levicoff. Now it gets interesting, none of Almeda's accreditations are listed in Steve's article, RE:
COUNCIL FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION ACCREDITATION (CDEA)
The Association for Online Academic Excellence (AOAEX)
Interfaith Education Ministries (IEM).
Does anyone have any experience with this University? Is it a diploma mill or not?
Thanks!

 

Almeda is not regionally or nationally accredited as recognized by the USDOE and CHEA. Hence an extremely poor choice in any respect. I would stay far away.

 

Distance education is a huge area of study with many topics to choose from. Am I observing an increase in first time posters at this wonderful forum promoting degreemills and fake degrees, utilizing creative strategies to promote illegal organizations. Is this true Freud?

If this is not the case with you freud, then my apologies and welcome.

-- Ray

 

Any school that won't proudly proclaim its physical location is an academic fraud in my view. Almeda is a despicable place.

I too seem to have noticed that it seems that academic frauds seem to be testing the DegreeInfo waters. I'm also pleased that they don't seem to find the waters to their liking.

 

For shame raristud - is not your accusation slanderous and character defamatory in nature? Is this how you great new members? Suggest you do your homework first before bashing a new member.
I suggest you read John Foxworthy's (Garage Radio, (Associate Writer)) article, which I helped contribute to:
http://www.musicdish.com/mag/?id=8236 "I have been successful to date in recovering over 25% of funds taken from Mom through mail fraud and telemarketing," states Pete Maizitis an independent artist":
I was quite explicit that Almeda had offered to back date my degree 30 months. This was in violation of their written policies and procedures. I clearly stated that I canceled with them.
I am not in any way shape or form promoting Almeda or any such fraud. In fact my exploits against mail and telemarketing fraud partnering with the Attorney Generals of over five states nationwide was widely publicized in the October 2005 Cleveland Plain Dealer and several subsequent issues. Part of the investigation resulted in extradition to and conviction in Cleveland, Ohio of a Mr. Don Howard of Ultra Corporation, CA I have triggered several investigations by the IFCC against Internet fraud.
Thanks to the others for an open and candid and honest dialogue.
Am I still welcome here or will there be more character bashing for new members??

 

raristud already welcomed you to the board. Your woe-is-me speech is another common tactic taken by academic frauds. Welcome and have fun!

 

"For shame raristud - is not your accusation slanderous and character defamatory in nature? Is this how you great new members? Suggest you do your homework first before bashing a new member. "

What shame?.. hahaha. Good! This is what I expected for you to say. No. I was not being slanderous or being defamatory at all. I was actually being balanced, polite, and practicing restraint ( as I am now, believe me ). This was a test to see if you were a millist, shill, or an imposter. Your tone does not prove otherwise.... does it.


- Ray

 

Almeda is a degree mill! They not accredited by any recognized agency. Stay away!

IMHO It's just as big of a fraud to have a degree from a mill and(knowingly) try and pass it as legit as it is to own and operate one of these instituions. Degree mills would not exist if there was no market for them.

 

Hi Tim:
Thanks for your honest answer. I think its time 60 minutes did another story on these mills ... Hamilton has already ceased its mill ... apparently now only an email on their site referencing where transcripts may be obtained.

I've asked the moderator to look in on this post.

 

Why would you want the moderator to look at this post?

You asked a question and received an answer, Almeda is a mill.

They offer degrees based on a resume, created their own accrediting agencies, and operate out of a mailbox that constantly changes.

No legitimate school would accept their credits,

 

Oh boy. Will I get detention?

Freud. Degreeinfo is like that of a fraternity. Have you ever been involed in a frat organization. They are fun. ok. Once in a while, a new member will post something that resembles affiliation to a degreemill. My first post resembled that of an initiation. Its been done to me in law enforcement ( I appreciated it later ).

I don't know who you are. You just went by a screen name and seemed to promote degreemills based on similar posts by shills. The questions you asked is similar to what is asked by degreemill lovebugs. Which you say you are not. Thats fine.

All you had to say was.... "raristud. I am not promoting this dumb
sour fudge stuff, I am this person who is an DL activist in this and that". I would have let water go under the bridge, responded in a less neutral and more friendly tone, and initiated progressive conversation. Again. Welcome to the forum.

I look foward to the response of the moderators

-- Ray

 

Most of the frat has moved to degreediscussion.com though, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Sorry about the seemingly harsh response, I just don't understand why you want to report anything to the moderator, it's up to you though.

 

"I just don't understand why you want to report anything to the moderator"

nah not me. Freud wants to, as he can if he wants.

" Most of the frat has moved to degreediscussion.com though, so I wouldn't worry about it"

Missed some of that frat on DI though. Like uncle janko.

- Ray

 

Phew ... I thought I was being hazed! I had a slightly harsher experience on an English website and never returned.

Thanks for the explanation.

No I am not from a degree mill ... nor do I endorse them ... only someone who has been out of work for over three years and thought that the life experience degree was an option. Being an ISO 9001 lead auditor my hair stood on end when Almeda offered to back date one college degree 30 months back. That's when I pulled the plug ... fortunately they refunded all the money promptly.

Fortunately, these degree mills have not gotten up to speed on Six Sigma and started offering Six Sigma black belt certifications. My friends at GE would not appreciate that.

Unfortunately, I have had to educate some of my recruiter friends and send them links on what it is a degree mill is and why it is fraud. Surprisingly enough, 100% of the recruiters I talked with had absolutely no idea whether the degree by life experience (RE: degree mill) was legitimate or not.

So the question would be ... why does not the IFCC shut down their sites?

 

Alot of these mills work in states like Idaho and Wyoming that have lax laws in regards to millish behavior, so in theory they are operating with in the law of those states. Others use loopholes or create the appearance of being a foreign school.

Kennedy -Western is one mill that was run out of it's "orginal" home state.

 

" only someone who has been out of work for over three years and thought that the life experience degree was an option"

- What schools are you interested in? What degrees or subjects? Ask around and you shall be helped.

"fortunately they refunded all the money promptly"

- Sorry they took your money like that. Have you reported them?

"I had a slightly harsher experience on an English website and never returned"

- It was probably filled with millists. You are against these thieves. So they did not accept you.

I know a ISO lead auditor. Funny guy. Italian Bostonian to the bone. He told me that auditing can be a lucrative business, but competitive.

"Surprisingly enough, 100% of the recruiters I talked with had absolutely no idea whether the degree by life experience (RE: degree mill) was legitimate or not."

- I believe that a policy should be in place requiring HR and recruiters to complete a very short course about legitimate accreditation, degreemills and differences thereof. It may save a company or government agency hundreds of thousands in hiring and PR costs.

 

I agree ... a side issue is that many are hiring for technical positions and have no idea about the technical aspects of the job. A complete waste of time for the applicant and the contracting company.

Almeda took money for certificates but when I canceled, they did promptly refund all the money.

Degrees? Would be nice to transition or enhance a Bachelor of Science degree (Biology) to Electronics degree. Apparently not many companies accept the additional certifications of high reliability soldering (MIL-STD-2000) and printed wire boards (MIL-P-55110) issued by aerospace OEMs.

And would like to move to San Diego someday before I die.

As far as Ameda's immunity from the law (and similar) is there not a game plan that each of these can be addressed one at a time? Does anyone have a good inside source with the IFCC? I only have the general complaint link but not a real body. Unfortunately without loss of money damages my contacts at the Ohio Attorney General's would not get involved ... especially if it is Internet related.

Cheers,

Thanks for the responses and interest!

 

Plenty of legitmate schools (like my employer Strayer U) accept credits earned via "life experience" towards undergraduate degrees, but there is a limit on the amount of credit you can receive. A good resource is: www.cael.org

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the lead aic712!

Have a great weeekend!

 

You are welcome

You as well, welcome to the board!

Don't forget to also check out www.degreediscussion.com, there is quite a bit of good information over there as well.