Alelou wrote:It came up in one of the colleges where I teach because someone had actually applied for a position using one of these fake degrees. They also offer fake transcripts -- that's one thing you always have to get sent to a college when they hire you. The person screening the applicant did a little research trying to figure out what the deal was and was stunned at how many fake college names are out there. She circulated the list as a heads up.
When I was in HR part of my job was verifying credentials, and I did not accept transcripts from the employee; rather I had them fill out a form and then requested the verification myself. I never once had a school charge me for it even though many do charge to send sealed transcripts out. (I worked for the NC Community College System for a while so I did sometimes need full transcripts vs. just verification; it depended whether it was faculty or staff, but regardless I never accepted it from the employee.) It was really scary the number of times people blanched and ran when they realized that I meant it about confirming their education.
In the US, there are six (I think) major accrediting agencies for secondary and post-secondary education, roughly divided up by geography. There's also one that is specifically for distance education. All of the agencies publish lists of accredited schools on their web sites. If I hadn't heard of a school, the first thing I would do was check with the accrediting agencies. Some of them even post notices when a non-accredited school is using a very similar name as an accredited one.
Of course, the scammers have responded by creating their own accrediting agencies. But it's not very difficult to tell the difference between a made-up accrediting agency and a legitimate one.
NC, by the way, has a two-tier public post-secondary system. All public two-year schools are part of the NC Community College System; all public four-year-and-up schools are part of the University of North Carolina System. The community colleges do have open admission -- 18 or high school graduation -- but you have to take placement tests to be admitted into most courses (even English 101). You also have to clear your indebtedness each semester, and classes can and often do fill up quickly during registration.
There are two types of associate degrees from these colleges. "Academic" degrees (A.A., A.S.) are intended to be the first two years of a four-year education, and you generally don't declare a major. "Technical" degrees (usually A.A.S., but there are a couple A.A.T. programs) are intended to prepare you for the workforce; nearly all of them have a co-operative education or intern requirement. Technical classes often do not transfer to four-year schools and get a bad rap, but in my experience they were actually tougher than the academic classes.
The universities vary by selection criteria but none of them have open admission; generally though, a medium score on the SAT or ACT will get you into at least one of them. It may not necessarily get you into the one you want, though, and getting into a school doesn't mean you'll get into your desired major program. There are also two high schools run by the university system; the UNC School of the Arts has a high school component (10th-12th grades), and the NC School of Science & Math is a standalone residential high school (11th-12th grades) for the academically gifted.
Private post-secondary schools are pretty much allowed to do whatever they like as long as they comply with federal and state law. Some of them (Duke, Wake Forest, etc.) are very picky; some of them are not. As an adult student, I've found that they're more flexible with respect to course scheduling, online options, and similar.
I got caught in a serious Catch 22 when I finished high school. I finished a year early because of skipping a grade at the elementary level, so I was still a minor when I graduated. That meant I couldn't sign the promissory note on a student loan. But I also went to NCSSM, which does not award extra quality points for academically advanced courses, so my high school GPA was lower than someone with my test scores might ordinarily have...and that cost me scholarship opportunities.
In addition, my father died when I was fifteen so, thanks to Social Security Survivors' Benefits, I had income in my own name. Somehow, the powers that be decided I could save 100% of that toward my college education despite the fact that my mother only made $11,000 per year and needed that money to feed me...I completely disqualified for need-based aid. As a result, while I got admitted to several very good schools, including Yale University, I wasn't able to manage the financing. While I know my situation was unique, it burns me up every time I hear someone talk about how anyone can afford college in the USA. I only wish....