Triple dipping to get 3 degrees from 3 different places?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by nyvrem, Apr 18, 2018.

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  1. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    This new guy joined my work team couple of months ago, and he was saying he graduated with 3 different degrees from 3 different schools in the same year. it sounded pretty impressive when he said it. recently i was talking to him and asked how he went about doing it.

    apparently he started studying in a B&M school, transferred over 60 credits into another program that's online. took more credits there (reverse transferred them back to his B&M school) and transferred everything to a third online program.

    he then knocked out all the requirements for each school to graduate around the same time (span of 3 semesters)

    i never asked him why he wanted to do this, but won't the schools (all 3? or any?) find out that his triple dipping?
     
  2. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    So, he deliberately witheld required documents from each school. Bold. I imagine that if the schools did find out, they'd revoke his degrees, but unless they have specific reason to do so, they wouldn't investigate and would probably never find out.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I suppose it's interesting enough that he managed to find a way to do it but my question is "Why bother?" I'm guessing that at least one of those degrees is a waste of time and money.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2018
    Neuhaus likes this.
  4. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    I think all it would do is make people think he was odd and eccentric and clueless about academic distinctions. Unless the degrees were in different subjects, what's the value-added in having three bachelor's degrees--and even if they were in different fields, what's the value-added over having a triple major from the best of the three schools he attended?
     
  5. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Regardless, he's clever at finding loopholes and workarounds. He also is a boundary pusher. Of course, most bosses don't want those qualities, so he'll probably become frustrated by constantly being told to get back in line. I'd hire him in a heartbeat. Of course, all the Homeschooling for College Credit workers are volunteers, but I'd welcome in with open arms.
     
  6. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    You'd then be telling all your employees that there are no rules to follow.
     
  7. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    See, I totally disagree. I'm assuming (I could be wrong) that he didn't break any rules - rather he found loopholes and exploited them. Being good at that requires an exceptional understanding and appreciation for knowing the rules really well. Those same qualities in a defense lawyer would serve him well. His mistake, in my opinion, was that he was chatty, which I think always shows some level of approval-seeking. When you share things like that, it invites opinions and criticism. If someone posted the "should I" question here, I would have answered "no" for all the reasons everyone else suggested. Earning 3 of the same degree from 3 schools is filled with complicated and potentially expensive issues, plus it's strange. Normal people don't do that, so 99 out of 100 people are going to think you're bat-poo crazy. I'm not saying it's something some should do, I'm saying it's cool that he did it and not at all shocking that it isn't being well received. Public opinion, as all good rebels will tell you, is overrated.
     
  8. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    Employee disaffection is not.
     
  9. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    A Bachelor degree just a check-mark, unless you are hiring him or her based on the specific credential and former educational specialization. Otherwise, 3 Bachelor degrees look the same as one Bachelor degree to me. That is the reason why I did not attempt for an MBA because another Master degree does not do any different unless top MBA schools.
     
  10. FTFaculty

    FTFaculty Well-Known Member

    This guy'd make a whiz bang lawyer. The best lawyers I ever worked with loved pushing the limits, exploiting loopholes, making a travesty of the spirit of the law--while carefully upholding the letter.
     
  11. lawrenceq

    lawrenceq Member

    He has more degrees than a thermostat.
     
  12. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Loopholes. I am reminded of Walter Breen, who, in the simpler times of the 1950s, enrolled at Johns Hopkins University simultaneously under four different names, took a full load under each name, confessed, whereupon they let him amalgamate the credits, and he got his BS (Phi Beta Kappa) in one year.

    (He later became the first US member of Mensa, married Marion Zimmer Bradley, wrote the Philately section for Encyclopedia Britannica, and died in prison.)
     
  13. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    It is possible if you are willing to spend enough money, just register to the big 3 (Excelsior, Thomas Alba Edison and Charter Oak) and complete the 3 degrees by transferring the same credits to the 3 schools. You will get the same degree but from different schools, you can get 3 different majors with little extra work if you chose majors that overlap with each other such as business and accounting or engineering and math.
    There is not much value to this as you can get a BS and a MS with the same amount of work. I have two BS degrees and had few credits left for third one but there is no point, most employers only care about the highest degree (PhD or MS).
     
  14. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    His was the realm of the coin and the kiddie.
     
  15. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yes, Walter Breen was adept at making end-runs around the rules. Unfortunately, those end-runs included the rules against molestation of children. Several times.
    He is said to have had the disconcerting (to me) habit of often wearing his Phi Beta Kappa key as a zipper-pull on the fly of his pants. I don't care how smart he was - it's impossible to admire someone with his record.

    Here's the whole creepy story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_H._Breen
     
  16. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    So, it's really just a loophole? I've been under the impression that double (now, we have triple!) dipping was not allowed. That each degree required new credits that were never applied to any other degree program.
     
  17. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    It is possible, you can register at Excelsior College and Thomas Edison State University for a degree in IT and send your credits to both schools at the same time. You will end with a double BS degree but with the same major, this is not so useful in my opinion but possible.
    There is also of double or triple dipping for research PhDs, there is more than one individual that registers at two PhDs and submits the same dissertation for the two degrees. You will end with two PhDs.
     
  18. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    just thinking out loud

    60 credits of Gen Ed with an even spread of arts + science classes (AA) ~ maybe around $2k~$3k from your local CC via online.

    30 credits from fort hays state (computer science) ~ $8k ish (base on per credit hour)

    30 credits from north dakota (psychology maybe) ~ $8k ish (base on per credit hour)

    30 credits of testing out business mods via CLEP etc etc ~ ($3k?)

    Send the AA + Comp Sci stuff to TESU

    Send the AA + Psychology stuff to COSC

    Send the AA + Biz stuff to EC

    triple degrees in Comp Sci, Psych, Business ?

    everything roughly below 20k ?

    Did I get it right ?
     
  19. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    There are certain schools that specifically ask (and do not allow) if you are enrolled at any other school concurrent with theirs. It's a part of the signed enrollment agreement. Now it's quite possible that they would never learn of such duplicity but your credits/degree is forfeit if the do. This certainly is not the case with all schools. Now I suppose you could get around this by doing the degrees consecutively rather than concurrently. As for using the credits multiple times, I always assumed it was a matter of each school having their own policy. Maybe the accreditors have something to say about it. But I think that if I earned a BA in History I could then enroll in a BA program in, lets say Biology, and all the general ed credits would transfer leaving you to take only the bio credits. In that way you'd be using all the gen ed credits twice. I'm not sure that would be breaking any rules.
     
  20. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Meaning there is more than one person doing this?

    One for show and one for go.
     

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