Guy with a fake degree lands job as Kansan publisher......

.....Maybe it wasn't part of the process.Hope they don't find out

 

I dont recall a CCU degree being termed as "Fake". I guess most of us in this board agrees that its an "unaccredited" institution which has "little" value in the real world.

MFH
MBA Final Semester
Touro

 

That is correct. A CCU degree is not fake. It is unaccredited. The fellow has been performing the job for 30 years. May be the newspaper doesn't care.


Godwin

 

While those around this board are sometimes willing to examine the differences between unaccredited schools like CCU and degree mills, the rest of the republic doesn't always display such tolerance. This is an continuing fact of life for those who pursue degrees from unaccredited schools.

 

Mr. Tisdail, what is the basis for your assertion that a CCU degree is fake? While the school is not yet accredited, it is and has been state certified and approved as well as established for 30 years. And your disrespect for the individual in question (referred to as "guy with a fake degree") is noted. Let's hope the individual doesn't come after you with a "real" lawsuit. You owe him an apology.

 

CCU has been around for thirty years. They have offered quality distance education to many thousands of people. In no way is a degree from this state approved school fake. As for the average person knowing or caring about CCU one way or the other, ridiculous. The average person on the street wouldn't know CCU from Cardean University. When CCU is described as state licensed and approved by the state of California, it will be accepted by most people in the real world. It is a real school, offering quality education, enough said!!!

 

kf5k: "When CCU is described as state licensed and approved by the state of California, it will be accepted by most people in the real world."
-----------------------------------------------

Except, of course, university registrars and admissions officers, 99+% of whom don't.

 

Registrars and admissions officers are only a tiny percent of the people. Among the people who run businesses, who must produce profit, the acceptance would be much better. I've never had my degree fail in business applications, and have succeeded in education applications. In real applications that figure 99% won't hold up. There would be colleges that would quietly accept these degrees. There is a difference in asking someone what they do and really submitting applications in work and education processes. I've sat across the table from someone offering a real application to them and have had good success. I believe Kirkland can confirm good success with CCU, as could others.

 

CCU was founded 30 years ago when the university establishment would not soil themselves by offering distance education.

Looking at my Bear's Guide of 10 years ago, there were but a handful of accredited masters and doctorate programs, many requiring a degree of residency.

Now, in appreciation of the coin generated, there are hundreds of accredited programs.

I think that CCU has simply come to the realization that today accreditation would be more of a help than a hindrance.

I don't know the relevance of their published faculty list but it is certainly more impressive than all but top tier universities.

On admission to their MBA/DBA program, I received credit for 2 of 7 graduate courses. I was offered 5 at a DETC accredited university.

An internet search will reveal, I believe, hundreds of people in responsible positions with CCU degrees. This publisher probably had no need for any degree.

I think we are going to see a degreeinfo miracle in June 2004. A school is considered academically useless but one day later the chorus will be recommending it.

 

Re: Re: Guy with a fake degree lands job as Kansan publisher......

The obvious answer to your first question is that CCU is unaccredited. Many will automatically assume that an unaccredited institution is a degree mill.

Regarding your argument that CCU doesn't fit into the degree mill category. Specific degree mills that require zero work for their degrees have been around for a very long time, some even 30 years. In the past there have been fraudulent schools that were apparently operating legally with state approval until the day they were shut down by the courts.

I'm not arguing that CCU is a degree mill. What I'm arguing is that since it is unaccredited, many people are going to assume that it is a degree mill. I would be very surprised if anyone could win a lawsuit of the type that you're suggesting. Look at this link and then tell me how a lawsuit like you suggest could possibly be won?

http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.html

 

Now Dennis, I don't think that I've really seen anyone call CCU "academically useless". I agree that the day that CCU becomes accredited there will be a large chorus of degreeInfo members recommending it. That is simply because accredited degrees have far more utility. They have more utility because the school has proven that their programs meet the accepted standard. The chorus will be saying the same thing. The difference will be that CCU stepped up to the plate and proved that their programs meet the standard.

 

In my research, HR managers were asked to rate the acceptability of several forms of recognition, including regional accreditation (NCA) and state approval. No descriptions were provided. Participants rated each on a 0 (Not at all Acceptable) to 5 (Very Acceptable. State approval averaged 3.80899, while the NCA averaged 3.72659. The difference was not statistically different.

After descriptions of each were provided, the NCA scored 4.28464, while state approval dropped to 2.61423. The difference was statistically significant.

Moral of the story: if HR managers don't understand the difference between state approval and accreditation, you're golden. But if they do--or if they find out--the picture becomes bleaker.

I also provided a list of schools (without descriptions), and CCU happened to be one of them. CCU's degrees averaged 2.63296, while the RA school on the list, Capella, averaged 2.88015. This difference was not statistically different.

Moral: There seems to be a lot of acceptability for CCU's degrees, but almost assuredly because HR managers don't know and don't check. Why? Because the diploma mill on the list, Columbia State University, outpaced them both with an average of 3.13483, and the difference was statistically significant. Now, Columbia State is probably the most notorious degree mill ever, and has gotten a lot of press lately (well, relatively speaking). But that didn't seem to matter to HR managers, who rated it highly while rating the "Diploma Mills" category the lowest. The difference there was statistically significant.

Also, there are plenty of situations where the acceptability of a degree from CCU is absolutely zero. Any situation requiring a degree from an accredited school, for example.

It's a mess.

 

Kirkland, I don't mean to offend you, and I can't really can't speak to those who have attended CCU for their PhD. However, the only ones owing an apology are those who have passed off a CCU BS or MBA as a legitimate degree. I'm surprised having attended school in Greeley, that you wouldn’t feel the same. Those who have achieved success while possessing degrees from CCU, IMHO, have done so based more upon their own hard work and talent than anything CCU has brought to the table.

 

Mark:

Most people who achieve success do so based on their hard work, and talent. Success is usually not based on what your school has brought to the table. Bill Gates does not even have a degree, but he is probably the most successful man alive. I have a succesful electrical contracting business, and my formal education has little to do with it.

Regards,

Scott

 

According to the laws of the state of California CCU issues legitimate degrees. According to John Bear's Guides they are real, also my viewing them over a period of a quarter of a century proves to me they are real. If you can prove these degrees are fraudulent, feel free to present your evidence.

 

There is a huge difference between saying "legitimate" and "fraudulent". I'm not suggesting that CCU is "fraudulent" (despite my use the term "fake" in my original post, which was meant as a "goat" getter), I would suggest, however that at least in the case of BA and MBA degrees offered by CCU, they are less than legitimate. And no amount of holding your hands over your ears, shaking your head back a forth and saying “blah, blah, blah, I can’t hear you” changes that. Legitimate degrees are offered by institutions accredited by acceptable nation-wide organizations, of which “State Approved” does not fit.

 

The higher education system within the USA is based on RA. DETC tries to enforce standards that are very similar to RA. Anything else is on the fringe of the USA educational system. The closest that an unaccredited degree that you can get to this is BJU. It is a reasonable position to take (IMHO) to say that anything outside this norm is not legitimate. From my view that is another way of saying that an unaccredited degree will have less utility than an accredited degree.

 

To call this a fake degree is a cheap shot. CCU has been approved for over 25 years including the time when California approval was legally equal to accreditation.

 

I agree.

I would love to read up on this. Would you happen to have a link that might give more on this?

 

1- CCU requires official transcripts prior to admission.
2- has been based in California for 30 years, a very stable record
3-doesn't claim accreditation from a phoney accreditor
4- lists faculty members
5- all graduation requirements are known by students in advance
6- is properly licensed & approved under California law
7-maintains its own library, making books available
to students when necessary
8- The University's general education requirements are patterned
after the California State University system