Saint Regis University

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by atlas1212, Jun 25, 2003.

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  1. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    After this Laura Callahan discussion, I thought about some of the more maligned schools we discuss on here. One that interested me for this discussion was SRU. I've seen their claims and the counter claims by people on this forum. I don't know what John Bear has found, but I've found an amazing acceptance for their degrees.

    I emailed several schools, including Stanford, Harvard, UCLA and some of the more common RA online learning schools from John Bears book/website, such as Upper Iowa University for example. Every single registrar told me that they would accept a degree from SRU for further graduate study. In fact, Bellevue and UIU told me specifically that this topic has been reviewed and that SRU has been found to meet the standards and equivalence of a US RA degree.

    In addition to this, I have contacted a legitimate foreign degree equivalency organization, suggested to me by one of the above universities, and low and behold, they will rate and verify SRU degrees as equivalent to US RA degrees.

    In addition to this, I contacted 3 local colleges in my area and asked them if I had a SRU Masters or PhD, would I be eligible to teach at their school. 2 of the three immediately answered yes. The third suggested I get a foreign equivalency report first, surprisingly from the organization I had already got confirmation from.

    It makes you rethink how "useless" and SRU degree is, and possibly others out there that are so maligned on this forum.

    My research was just quick and off the cuff. It was hardly scientific or thorough, but the results were surprising.
     
  2. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    Finally!!!

    What took you so long? :rolleyes:
     
  3. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    Hey, I don't work for them or have a degree from them. There is nothing wrong with testing claims. If I reach a different conclusion than you, it doesn't mean I'm wrong. Test the evidence yourself. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I was just showing that my small research turned up different results than what I have been told on here.

    I invite you to instead of thinking you've pulled some Perry Mason moment by saying "Ah Ha!", like I'm a diploma mill plant, that you actually look at what I said and investigate it.
     
  4. Charles

    Charles New Member

    atlas1212,

    Would it be possible for you to post your email and the registrars' responses on this board?
     
  5. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Saint Regis University

    What was that? Oh, I just heard the other shoe drop.
     
  6. plcscott

    plcscott New Member

    Atlas:

    One of the tactics here is that as soon as you disagree with one of the regulars they accuse you of being a mill operator, or worse yet RJT. :D JK How do we not know that most of these people are not he same guy dishing out acusations while trying to wag the dog. :D :D :D

    Hey I do not know anything about Saint Regis, but I have seen degrees which are totally dogged here accepted in industry. I work with a guy who is the Chief Engineer for a company that has a degree from Pacific Western, and here it is a diploma mill in the mind of most.
     
  7. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    atlas1212 wrote:

    > I don't know what John Bear has found,

    Here is what he found.

    Subject: The other school St. Regis apologists say accepts the degree . . . doesn't
    Newsgroups: alt.education.distance
    From: John Bear <[email protected]>
    Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 09:02:22 -0700
    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Folks may recall that in response to my "Just name one school that has a policy of accepting St. Regis degrees," challenge, the people writing under the names of Dr. Brown, Dr. Blackwell, and Mr. Culin, rather defiantly offered the University of Connecticut and Vanguard University.

    I have earlier reported that UConn's Director of Graduate Admissions, Marylou Balinskas, says, "No we don't."

    I can now report, following a phone call from her, that Vanguard's Director of Admissions, Jessica Mireles, also says, "No we don't."
     
  8. roysavia

    roysavia New Member

    I work as a consultant to the federal government. I regularly meet with individuals who claim they have MBAs and doctorates from universities I have never heard of.
    I'm convinced that a number of these degrees were generated from degree mills. As I have mentioned on another thread, Laura Callahan is only the "tip of the iceberg". She happened to get caught for misrepresenting her credentials.

    Just imagine how many well paid public servants you support (through your tax dollars) hold degrees from bogus institutions. I had to work hard for more than 8 years to earn my degrees. These individuals earned theirs by submitting their resume. The irony of this is that I report to them.

    The ratio of competent to incompetent public servants in office is 2:5
     
  9. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    PLCSCOTT: Of course. I'm just showing what my research turned up.

    Ok, here is an example: Bellevue University. Listed in John Bear's book, on Gus's page and it happens to be my Alma Matter.

    This is the text of the email I received:


    (Below is the response from our Registrar Office regarding St. Regis University:
    Kelly,

    Yes, we accept degrees from St. Regis University in Liberia. Their Bachelor degree is comparable to our U.S. bachelor degree the same for their master degrees.)

    Also, the American Universities Admission Program, which is a degree equivalency organzation that was suggested to me by a junior college called Cabrillo College and by Stanford University in regards to Saint Regis said this:

    (Yes, Saint Regis University, located in Liberia passes our check.)

    Don't shoot the messenger because you don't like the message. I'm not going to post a whole slew of stuff. I'm challenging you to do what I did, just email schools in your area. I thought people might be interested in the fact that there is more acceptance than you would think. I'm not saying it's accepted universally.
     
  10. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member


    Pacific Western actually has an education program and coursework. I believe St Regis graduation requirements are a resume and a credit card number.

    Where do these fools keep coming from?

    I believe there are lots of useful alternatives to regional accreditation, including many California approved programs.

    St Regis makes Kennedy-Western look like Harvard and, trust me, it ain't.
     
  11. plcscott

    plcscott New Member

    What fools are you referring to?
     
  12. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    No reason to name call. I mean, if it is a resume and a credit card AND it is being approved by US schools, more power to them. Like I said before, a lot of RA online schools aren't Harvard.
     
  13. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I'd question that.

    Assuming that these universities were contacted at all, a lot depends on what precise question they were asked. If they were asked whether they would consider an obscure African university that they were unfamiliar with, providing that it had all the necessary local approvals in its home country, I'm sure that most universities would just automatically say 'yes'.

    I don't believe that.

    If they have reviewed St. Regis, then presumably they know about the sales of $50,000 Liberian accreditations and about the franchising of those accreditations to "affiliate" schools all over the world.

    If they have found St. Regis "to meet the standards and equivalence of a US RA degree", I'd ask them how that determination was made. Who precisely evaluated St. Regis (let alone its affiliates) and precisely how was that evaluation performed? In fact, where precisely is St. Regis located? That hasn't even been determined yet.

    Foreign credential evaluators aren't alternative international accreditors, are they? They perform an entirely different function.
     
  14. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    Bill, if you refer to my above post, I quoted the exact text of the message from Bellevue University. They stated to me by phone and email that they are familiar with St. Regis University, and find their degrees to be equivalent to US degrees. The other Universities I mentioned either stated the same or referred me to the above mentioned degree equivalency organization. When I asked, I SPECIFICALLY said, "Saint Regis University, located in Liberia and accredited by their Ministry of Higher Education." I wasn't trying to trick them into answering in the affirmative. I was curious myself. I'm not trying to fool you personally. If they said they don't accept the degree, I would have posted the same way.

    The independent degree equivalency organizations may not be RA's, but if a college is willing to hire you based on a document from them that says your degree is legitimate, they are important.

    I don't care if you believe me. Email or call for yourself. Your disbelief doesn't make you correct.
     
  15. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    On one hand, you want people to believe that St. Regis is legitimate, that it's respected by the academic community and that Degreeinfo is unfairly trashing it.

    On the other hand, you tell us that if people can misrepresent their educational qualifications and successfully get away with it, then "more power to them".

    It seems to me that the latter contradicts the former.

    What's more, if you are defending lying, then you probably should be prepared for some remarks that you might interpret as "name-calling".
     
  16. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    Bill, you are missing the point. I don't care about the name on my diploma. I care whether or not it is effective for making me money. I don't go to school for fun. I do it to improve my economic situation. There are many people here and all over who feel the same way I do. If a Saint Regis Degree can get you a job or into a Graduate Program, AND, it's defined by important sources as legitimate, I don't see anything wrong with it. It's a means to an end. A guy who went to Stanford is going to laugh a Touro graduate out of the room. What is the difference between that and you laughing at St. Regis grad, if in turn, the result is the same...legal gainful employment.
     
  17. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    My guess is that either the registrars are confusing St. Regis with another St. Regis, or they're not aware of the whole Liberian situation... or else somebody is fabricating information.

    Bellvue happens to be a school that DegreeInfo has a pretty close working relationship with. It will be a simple matter to check with one of the senior people there and straighten things out... I'm quite confident that whomever you corresponded with *wasn't* in fact actually familiar with St. Regis of Liberia (or, more precisely, St. Regis of Liberian accreditation.)

    As has been stated in Bears' Guide and elsewhere, nonwonderful schools are getting more and more crafty in trying to find "end runs" around legitimate accreditation practices, and the Liberian situation is just the latest wrinkle. (think MIGS for an earlier version.) Some registars, unfortunately, don't understand that in war-torn countries, nearly everything is for sale at the right price... but that's part of the mission of groups like our own DegreeInfo community. The more we can educate registrars and employers about the real situation, the better off everyone (except those trying to cheat the system with bogus degrees) will be.
     
  18. Dennis Ruhl

    Dennis Ruhl member

    Those people who believe that St Regis is a real university. I really wasn't being subtle.
     
  19. plcscott

    plcscott New Member

    Atlas:

    This is where I would disagree. A degree that is purchased with no work just isn't right. If it gets you into something fine, but that does not make it right. However, I do not see a great divide from that, and a kid getting a degree from Excelsior before he finishes high school when he has never taken a college class though. I know RA is the only way with most here, but that does not seem right either. If by taking nothing but exams pass/fail you can get a degree to me that is close to giving a degree based totally on experience. Not the same, but not to far apart either.

    In response to where do these fools come from:

    The administrator may not admonish you, but I will say that you should thankful that you can sit behind a computer and offend, and accuse. Else, you may sport a raccoon look.
     
  20. atlas1212

    atlas1212 New Member

    First off, I'm hardly afraid of anyone from this site.

    Secondly, If, I'm wrong. Fine. I don't care. I'm just telling you what they've said. And if what I've found is correct, my opinion on it.
     

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