So there I was looking at the special student/faculty edition of Microsoft Office, at Costco, today. The box specifically states that it can only be purchased by a student or faculty at a regionally accredited US school. And then, in case that is not clear enough, it goes on to state that 'schools accredited by national accrediting agencies are specifically not included' and students or faculty at such schools cannot purchase at the special rate. I found this surprising, and wonder why Microsoft is so clear and so firm in their anti-DETC stance.
Microsoft is very selective as to whom as access to their educational materials. When Excelsior was reviewing their exams they were the the only college allowed to review their certification exams for credit. Since Excelsior has done this I do not know if they opened up the doors to other RA schools for exam review for credit recommendations or if those schools are using the Excelsior recommendations. John
Here is the relevant Microsoft verbiage online: Microsoft Qualified Educational User Definition & Distribution Guidelines for the U.S.. A public or private K-12, vocational school, correspondence school, junior college, college, university, or scientific or technical school meeting all of the following criteria: (i) organized and operated exclusively for purpose of teaching its matriculating K-12 or higher education students; and (ii) institutionally accredited by a Regional Institutional Accrediting Agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Note: Accreditation by a National Institutional and Specialized Accrediting Body alone does not qualify an end user as a qualified educational user.
A little simpler for the UK: Microsoft Education UK - Do You Qualify?. Students - if a full or part-time student aged five or over enrolled on a course that will deliver an academic qualification publicly recognised by the Department for Education & Skills (DfES) or the Irish Department of Education (DOE).
Microsoft seems a little testy here. I suppose Bill Gates' honorary degrees are from accredited schools. Since they still make money on "educational distributions" it would seem like good sense to take unaccredited as well as accredited money
An additional requirement is that the student be enrolled in minimum of 6 units (Quarter or Semester not specified). This means part time students also qualify for the price break.
I think it more likely comes down to either greed or snobbery. But... I find it very interesting. DETC is clearly trying to gain more credibility, and although their missteps with Columbia Southern and ACCIS/AICS will take a long time to live down, if they've actually learned their lesson from this, maybe they *will* clean up their act. The more things like Microsoft not accepting their accreditation that pop up, the more reason they will have to clean up their act.
There are about 40 DETC-accredited degree-granting institutions, compared to hundreds, if not thousands, of regionally-accredited colleges and universities. So it's a surprise that Microsoft would bother to make a distinction.
I live in the USA and attend USQ in Australia and am allowed to buy the academic version of Microsoft Office through their online bookstore, which will then be shipped to me here. So US retailers miss their share of the sale but Microsoft still gets theirs. Christian
This seems very hypocritical since both Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are on the National Advisory Board and contributors to Western Governors University which is a DETC accredited institution.
Chances are Bill Gates may not be directly involved in that decision. But, you're right, Slappy. It does seem a bit hypocritical.
Yes, but come on now.....WGU is not a fly by night organization and will almost certainly be granted RA as soon as the process allows. The DETC thing was an intermediate thing to keep up thier marketability in the meantime. But I'm sure there is alot of snobbery and pompusness involved on the Microsoft end also!
Your post implies that most DETC institutions are "fly by night". I would certainly disagree with that.
_________________________________________________ Aren't there other national accrediting agencies other than DETC? If so, shouldn't the title of this thread be Microsoft accepts only RA degrees or something to that effect? Regards, Wes
Wes: Aren't there other national accrediting agencies other than DETC? If so, shouldn't the title of this thread be Microsoft accepts only RA degrees or something to that effect. John: Agreed. But the only other non-religious one that accredits entire schools is ACICS (Accrediting Commission of Independent Colleges and Schools). I was prepared to say, "Yes, but they don't do distance learning programs," but then I looked at their list of accreditees and I'm not so sure. I had remembered that Armstrong and Schiller were the only universities they accredited. But now there are: Morrison University (Nevada) Education America University (CA) Teikyo Loretto Hgights Univ. (CO) Florida Metropolitan U Duluth Business University Johnson and Wales U (RI, FL) And we did discuss their accreditee the Newschool of Architecture here once.
