Colton University: accredited?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by samkoyejo, Mar 31, 2007.

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  1. samkoyejo

    samkoyejo New Member

    Hi ,

    Does anyone know anything about Colton University www.coltonuniversity.org They claim to be accredited by "THLC"- The High Learning Commission.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 31, 2007
  2. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Colton University

    Statement of Accreditation

    In their own words, "Accreditation Disclaimer:
    Colton State University is not accredited by an agency recognized by the United States Secretary of Education. Students who wish to transfer credits to an accredited institution or seek a position that requires an accredited degree should be aware that in most cases our degree will not be accepted. This fact should be considered when deciding on our educational programs."
     
  3. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Is this thing named 'Colton University', or 'Colton State University'? Both names appear in different places on its website.

    Where is it located, exactly? What state is it in? Colton's 'contact' page gives you a form to fill out, but they don't provide a mailing address.

    Colton says: "Colton University, one of the leading online universities, is proud to have provided for the educational needs of over 218,000 working adults and students. Having been established in 1982, it is among one of the first online distance learning institutions.

    Colton's curriculum is an integration of technology and tradition. A diverse range of Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degree Programs are offered."


    Colton purports to offer many doctoral degrees. Their list of doctoral programs includes:

    Aerospace Engineering
    Applied Linguistics
    Applied Mathematics
    Business and Organizational Security Management
    Computer Network Engineering
    Criminal Justice Administration
    Electrical Engineering
    Human Resources Development and Management
    Nutritional Sciences
    Psychology
    Social & Behavioral Sciences


    Wow! Colton must be a very prominent school, right? Well, a Google search for 'colton university' site:.edu turned up 21 hits, but every one of those hits was for somebody named 'Colton' affiliated with some other university.

    A search for 'colton state university' site:.edu didn't generate any hits at all.

    A name that's obviously crafted to create confusion with the North Central Association/Higher Learning Commission, who I'm certain do NOT accredit Colton.

    Colton provides a link to their THLC:

    http://www.thlc.org/about.asp

    The page design looks like it was done by the same person who did Colton's site. Interestingly, the THLC doesn't provide us with their street address either, they just give us an online form to fill out. The list of schools that the THLC "accredits" seems to include just about every university in America, all of whom would be surprised to learn that they had received this honor, I'm sure.

    But despite their THLC accreditation, Colton thought it necessary to include this on its 'legal' page:

    "Accreditation Disclaimer

    Colton State University is not accredited by an agency recognized by the United States Secretary of Education. Students who wish to transfer credits to an accredited institution or seek a position that requires an accredited degree should be aware that in most cases our degree will not be accepted. This fact should be considered when deciding on our educational programs."


    On Colton's 'doctorate's' page, they inform us that Colton is

    "Fully recognized members of:
    COHL
    Council of Online Higher Learning

    Fully recognized members of:
    ASCAOR
    American Society of Collegiate Admissions Officers & Registrars"



    Neither of the links work. The second "organization" is apparently meant to create confusion with the AACRAO, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, who I'm confident have nothing to do with Colton.

    Colton University offers doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering, a fact that should make everyone who boards an airliner a lot more confident. So I did another Google search for 'colton university', plus the words 'aerospace' or 'aeronautical' or 'aviation' or 'aircraft'. The results included 40 hits, but again almost all of them were for individuals named 'Colton' at different universities. Four of the hits might concern this Colton: the THLC site certainly does, two hits on something called 'degree me' and something apparently from Russia. None of those four could even remotely be called scholarly or professional though.

    That's not the signature that one would expect from a real university that's operating credible doctoral programs in a technical subject.

    As they say on 'Mythbusters': Busted!
     
  4. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Whois shows...

    Domain Name:COLTONUNIVERSITY.ORG
    Created On:31-May-2006 04:47:45 UTC
    Last Updated On:31-Jul-2006 03:48:18 UTC
    Expiration Date:31-May-2008 04:47:45 UTC
    ...
    Registrant Name:Registration Private
    Registrant Organization: Domains by Proxy, Inc.
    ...
    Email:[email protected]
    ...
    Admin Name:Registration Private
    Admin Organization: Domains by Proxy, Inc.

    And for the THLC...

    Domain Name:THLC.ORG
    Created On:03-Mar-2005 08:42:37 UTC
    Last Updated On:29-May-2006 03:25:22 UTC
    Expiration Date:03-Mar-2008 08:42:37 UTC
    ...

    Registrant Name:Registration Private
    Registrant Organization: Domains by Proxy, Inc.

    Both websites reside on IP addresses operated by Peer 1 Networks, Inc., a large webhosting service with many local offices. The IP address for the THLC is in Berkeley, the one for Colton is in Los Angeles. Despite the thing operating out of California computers, I expect that the BPPVE has never authorized it.

    The fact that the "accreditor's" domain was created in March 2005, while Colton's wasn't created until May 2006, suggests to me that Colton might not be the only "university" that this perp is running. There might be more ringers tucked into the massive THLC listing of accredited schools.
     
  5. Maxwell_Smart

    Maxwell_Smart Active Member

    These guys are clearly a bunch of morons.

    Take a look at the fee structure page... notice that you have to take 149 credits to finish an Associate degree! 149 credits! But here is the kicker... the Bachelors degree is just 125 credits!

    Man, I wish something could be done to stop this madness. You just know someone will be dumb enough to sign up and throw away their money.
     
  6. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    How did you learn about Colton University, samkoyejo? Did you see an advertisement (if so, where?) or get a spam message or something else?

    Thanks.

    John
     
  7. PaulC

    PaulC Member

    Note the clever syntax in reference to the list of almost every university in existence that has been "given accreditation" by the illustrious THLC.

    Very unfortunate for those sincere but uninformed people looking for online learning opportunities.
     
  8. raristud2

    raristud2 New Member

    Terrible timing. You should have posted this on april fools. :D
     
  9. samkoyejo

    samkoyejo New Member

    Hi John Bear

    I just came across them from a web search.
     
  10. Ryan IV

    Ryan IV New Member

    Sam-
    Why do you have an ad in your signature line?
     
  11. Ryan IV

    Ryan IV New Member

    Sorry, double post.
     
  12. Shawn Ambrose

    Shawn Ambrose New Member


    I wonder how the REAL Higher Learning Commission feels about the "High Learning Commission."

    Shawn
     

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