Fake accreditors?

Well, after this baptism of fire from DI, I am looking forward to good things from Rod and WOLI. Rod, Steve has set a high bar for you to attain and that is a good thing. It is your interest to have the bar set high for yourself, while containing cost. Penn Foster seems to have a solid reputation on DI - you may want to do some benchmarking against them.
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Dr Lady was Star around here. The issues that caused his fall from grace were complex for me to understand, but you should have a look so you don’t repeat them. I think there is profit to be make with an accredited low cost strategy. DI is tough but fair. I have a feeling that you will do well if you sort out these issues that Steve has brought to your attention.

 

Well, campers, we have some good news. Whether or not Rod continues to post, he will certainly be monitoring DI - we have become a tool for him to attempt to clean up his act. To wit:

As of today (4/20/19), Rod has changed the wording on his web site to read, "NEWS: Excel Education Systems, Inc. Acquires Washington Online Learning Institute, a Regionally Accredited, Online, Post-Secondary, Career Institute [emphasis added]. Click Here to Read Press Release."

In other words, as of today on the Excel web site, he is no longer calling WOLI a college. That said, the press release to which he links still calls it a college.

Degree mill operators have long used DI as a means of cleaning up their bullshit, and Rod has apparently joined that club.

Um, you're welcome, Rod.

 

I definitely respect your opinion Dr. Levicoff, and you may be right about Rod, though I think it is important to leave room for the sliver of possibility that your zeal for accountability may be misplaced in this situation.

The facts show that we have a school/business actively trying to improve through increasing accreditation and opportunities. As for this example, what benefit was there for him to change the wording? Other than trying to add clarity/honesty, it doesn't seem doing so would help him draw more customers or make him seem unduly legitimate. He is most definitely a businessman but calling him a degree mill operator doesn't seem accurate because he could do so with far better profit margins without acquiring an institution that has the appropriate regional accreditation and pursuing ACE accreditation within his existing structure.

I look forward to Rod proving his detractors wrong and running an exceptional business/institution and contributing to DI as a whole, not to just this one thread.

 

Yeah, con artist operate regionally accredited schools with proven track records for excellence. Steve Levicoff you have serious issues. You are the last person I need to defend myself to. Get a life!

 

Don’t pay to much to the name calling-see it as a DI hazing for getting some good free advice. If Steve’s critiques lead to improved operations then it is a small price to pay. Also, don't try to do it all by yourself, there are many DIers whoyou can make a part of your team.

 

Hmmmm . . . Just noticed something, Rod.

Your sig file indicates that your credentials are:

Ashworth, my little butt head, is not a university - it's a college, not to mention totally online and for profit. There was some talk about merging their entities to become a university, but it never happened - even their own web site still identifies it as a college. (So does the DEAC web site.) Ah, well, that's more subterfuge on your part in a vain attempt to inflate your credentials.

But I digress . . . In your last post you said:

Damn right I have serious issues. This week, you are my issue. Next week, it might be someone or something else. But you're right about one thing: You do not need to defend yourself to me, so you might as well stop trying: to me, you are indefensible. And gauche enough to end that sentence with a preposition - yeah, I'm also a grammar freak.

As for getting a life, I already have one. It includes a 30-year history as a consumer advocate for integrity in nontraditional higher education, which includes exposing shams like you. I'm not looking for you to defend yourself, I'm simply looking to expose your shenanigans to the unsuspecting public that you're trying to convince you just purchased a "regionally accredited career college."

In other words, Rod, I have always specialized in bullshit - not creating it, but exposing it. There are some here that are, IMO, being far too kind to you - having a false hope that you will change and become a productive member of the higher education community. But I'm not that hopeful - to me, once a sleaze, always a sleaze (with an occasional rare exception, but you're not one of them). And if you occasionally do something good, you still end up being "slightly pregnant." And we both know that there is no such thing as slightly pregnant.

So frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a crap whether you thank me for my "kind words" or tell me to get a life. As long as you're hanging out here putting one foot in your mouth and the other up your butt, I'll enjoy exposing you as the con artist you are. And I have faith that you'll continue to make a horse's ass of yourself despite the fact that the DI constituency is not even your target market.

Ashworth University, my ass . . .

 

There is no single set of characteristics that separate a college from a university. There is no national standard. It's determined by state law and as we know that means there are variations. One thing they all have in common is that it's harder to be a university compared to a college. It's not just a matter of "Hey, let's change the name . . ."

https://www.answers.com/Q/How_does_a_college_become_a_university

 

Except that isn't true. Here in California, there are hundreds of non-degree-granting post-secondary schools that call themselves "college". They typically offer short vocational programs in everything from cosmetology to various para-professional medical things.

https://app.dca.ca.gov/bppe/view-voc-names.asp?schlname=college&Submit=Search

 

Ending a sentence in a preposition is the more natural way of speaking English, so it's generally acceptable. The rule of not ending a sentence with a preposition came from people who thought that Latin was superior, but English is a Germanic language. Even though there are a lot of French words in English from the Norman conquest, every day English and its grammar are still Germanic. Forcing Latin grammar on English makes no sense, and Oxford agrees.

 

And you have written how many books?

Fortunately, sanantone, when it comes to the history of grammar, I don't give a shit. It's simply one more way of me busting Rod's balls, just as it is obviously one more way of you busting my balls.

Happy ball busting.

 

I'm not someone with a doctoral degree in English or linguistics from Oxford, so I will defer to them. Writing anything doesn't mean that it was written correctly.

 

I'm going to assume that Rod earned A.S. and B.S. degrees at Ashworth College when it was known as Ashworth University in the early to mid-2000s. That could be the reason he made a clear distinction about the name of the school when he earned his undergraduate degrees (A.S. and B.S.) versus his graduate degree (MBA).

 

As far as I know rod hasn't done anything wrong. Maybe he bent a rule here or there but even the TOS is generally intact. Levicoff hasn't had a legitimate target for quite a while. Maybe he's a little too hungry. It's good to have a watch dog. I don't know if we need a guard dog.

 

That is the sort of anecdote of which I am fond.

 

Thanks, Chris - that sounds like a perfectly valid explanation, and I was able to verify it through a few sources.

Rod, I take back everything I said about how you listed Ashworth - the rest of you is still sleazy, but I'm always willing to admit when I'm wrong.

 

100% correct. : )

 

I'm willing to give Rod some credit. At least he has stopped the fake appreciation act. I consider that a minor but refreshing shedding of at least some of the facade.

 

anti-climax

https://tech.mn/news/2019/04/29/excel-education-systems-acquires-washington-online-learning-institute/

 

I wanted to respond to this post. WOLI/Excel has 20 courses that were just approved by ACE for 3-credit recommendation.