Inexpensive Certificates, Diplomas, Degrees

This is an odd way to view education - collecting certificates, like postage stamps or coins. But if that's what you enjoy, who am I to say anything? It's WAY less obsessive, and not dishonest at all, but rather reminiscent of that guy in India who "collected" 140-odd degrees.

So, I won't say more - other than this. "I hate that cereal, Mom. But I'll eat it - I'll force myself, just to get the premium in the box - so buy ten boxes today - Puleeeze!"

 

On the cheap end, Cudoo certificates are quite nice -- but all look the same. The courses are 12.99 mostly and you can knock off two in an evening, download your certs and not miss any shuteye. They courses are not any good at all in my view; I bought three at once, finished them in less than a week of spare odd moments - and I'm not going back for any more. But like I said, cheap certs, look nice and you can grab 'em fast, if that's important to you.

Alison make the nicest print-yourself ones I've seen. And the courses are good. I took my Global Islamic Banking and Finance course from them. The cert. meant something to me and I'm having it framed properly - as I did with my Fashion Design diploma. For the Islamic Finance cert, I bought some 'Eid' present-wrapping paper, metallic silver with a geometric design, in a Muslim-owned store. There are a few in town. I'll have a professional glue or dry-mount (their choice) the patterned paper smooth on mat-board and cut the wide outer mat from it. Inside that will be another mat - showing a thin line of maroon - a colour picked from the left upper corner of the Alison cert. Inside that, another mat showing a thin line- plain metallic silver, a reflection of the outer mat with its surface of 'Eid' paper.

The whole thing will cost me several times what the course and cert. cost - probably around $200 or a bit more - as did the framing of my Fashion Design diploma, but it's meaningful to me. Not something I got from an all-you-can-eat buffet. I've gone the whole route, professional framing of diplomas or certs about five times in my life. The most meaningful ones, to me. The rest - cheap frames. Most end up in storage boxes. I only have so many walls. And there are 40-45 years' worth of meaningful pictures on those walls, beside the very few diplomas and certs.

This is the kind of thing every person has to do their way. It deserves thought, discrimination (in the good sense) and planning. To me, not a casual undertaking - but it IS a great gift to yourself. A gift that keeps on giving.

 

I agree, the degrees need to serve a career purpose or personal goal and not just be ego boosters otherwise it becomes just an obsessive compulsive behaviour. If one wants to get a cheap degree so one can qualify for a license or a job or because one wants to learn something for personal development (e.g. Yoga, mindfulness, etc), this is fine. But getting 40 masters from ENEB, CLEA, Nicaragua, etc just to boost an ego it is a bit of waste of energies in my opinion.

With so many 2 year no dissertation doctorates, 6 month masters, $100 bucks degrees, etc. It is quite possible to fill a CV just with a large amount of paper but these energies might be better invested in working towards achieving something. If you are not so focused in life, then you are perceived as an ego maniac with so many degrees just trying to show that you are very intelligent but in reality people will just perceive you as someone with a very strong ego.

 

For the record, I got my Masters in Mindfulness from CLEA and a diploma from ENEB. I was tempted to keep piling up diplomas with discount offers from ENEB for $100 for a new Masters or 20 bucks Masters from CLEA though Masstercursos but I resisted, it is just the same idea capitalist of consuming something just because it is cheap.

 

Glad to hear you are still seeking more education. Beware the naysayers. Ignore the naysayers. There always seems to be someone arouind to tell me I have too many degrees and certificates. How many is too many? Their criteria for saying I have too many? I have more than they do.

 

Just probing my point. Yes, you are smarter than anyone here because you have a bunch of papers. Good luck!

 

Yes, it IS the same idea. Good for you, that you resisted. I've nothing against capitalism as a whole - in general, it works - and I like (true) bargains on things I really want, but I've always regarded the idea of "just because it's cheap" with distaste. And I resisted it, to the best of my ability, even when I was flat broke.

That way, when I started to have money again -- I had more money for the things I really wanted.

 

If people buy a bunch of lowball stuff they don't really care about "just because it's cheap" -- they may not have the money left for what they really want. What they want may include good quality, perhaps even relatively expensive degrees, that are meaningful to them. And @MichaelGates, if those are somebody's priority here - right, they can't have too many of them- per their own terms. I wish them every success. Those people know when they have enough. Somewhere around the third or fourth Doctorate, I think. Never been there, myself.

But buying lowball offers (of anything) just because they're low priced? Nah, that's a sign of weakness - unless maybe you've got a 60,000 square-foot house, like Dr. Shaq. O'Neal. Then you have wall-space. But somehow I don't think Dr. Shaq. (DBA - Barry University) goes in for cheapies. He certainly doesn't have to!

 

If I may repeat myself:

 

Silliness. There are people who like to study, learn and keep their mind active and desire to do so on a budget. I like studying a variety of subjects so that I am ready for whatever may come my way in life. People don't need to be attacked, called weak and made to look as if there is anything wrong with them just because they want to keep learning without going into major debt. It is silly to say it about the piece of paper as most diplomas and certificates now days are digital. I never print anything to paper. I never hang any diploma or certificate on the wall. My art collection of paintings goes on the walls. When I retire I will take even more courses to help pass the time and keep my mind alive.

 

Silliness? Whatever. I maintain there's a difference between learning because one enjoys it and an indiscriminate hunt for free or low-priced generic stuff, regardless of content. If you don't agree, so be it. We'll differ.

I've been retired 30 years and I still take courses. In things that interest me. Things that are meaningful to me.

I don't usually take courses from an all-you-can-eat for $10 place. Not that I wouldn't take one there if it was meaningful. I recently took a $15 Psych. of Women course on Udemy. The subject is meaningful to me. Unfortunately, the course wasn't. Nice Romanian lady with a Master's teaching it. But the course was at best, sub-any-standard, academically. Personality analysis on a concocted framework - pure "Pop" psychology. I don't care about the $15. I don't care about the three substandard courses I got for $39 from Cudoo. I DO care about the waste of time. At 81, I should.

Some people around here view learning as a homogenous commodity - lowest price per credit or price per cert. Regardless of subject - unless they're studying for a particular credential that has requirements. They say "I get all my credits from X--- school. Like people say "I get all my Cornflakes from Kellogg's." I'm not that guy. Neither are you, I think.

Call everything I said here "silliness" if you like. Call me crazy. It won't bother me. It's not meaningful to me. In any way.

 

Nice topic, I'd love to hear more suggestions.

Grupo Tarraco Formación also offers a huge selection of titulo propio masters, expertos and more. All in spanish though. They got serveral partnes universities.

 

University of Arkansas has a Certificate in Capitalism that comes with a nice parchment. It's one course, self paced.

Can't remember how much I paid. $250 maybe?

 

I think there is a difference in seeking more education and degree collecting.

You can seek education online through various field experts and their writings. You want to learn to code for data science? You can learn via DataCamp.

Essentially, there are many ways to become more educated without having to earn a degree or certificate.

 

Call me crazy then because each university I attended sent my diploma to me physically and I certainly mounted them suckers to my wall like I had just got the Mona Lisa delivered to my house.

 

No, Josh, I certainly wouldn't call you crazy. That's exactly what I would have done, were I smart and diligent enough to earn those. They obviously meant a lot to you - right from when you started courses. They were bound to, as you were willing to go to to such a great effort to attain them, plus major expense. They're the Grand Prize - and you won them fair and square.

Care in framing, etc. is what many of us do, with our most meaningful (to us) accomplishments - me included. My "most meaningful ones" didn't take me nearly the effort and expense yours did, but I love 'em anyway - so I gave them the very best I could - and I like to think it shows.

And they "give back" every time I look over there. I'm sure yours do, too.