There really should be some kind of free on-line federal school for the underprivileged that would be like these online schools but with a decent curriculum and ethical testing and is accredited.
The whole thing would probably cost annually what the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq cost in a few days. I'd rather talk to someone with a degree from the "US Federal Online" and know that he/she at least learned something than some random on-line diploma mill. Especially, if they put in two years at a community college.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Governors_University
It isn't free but the cost is something like $2,000 for every 6 month period and you can take as many classes as you can handle in that time frame.
Given these guys are already enacting a check box degree requirement they probably would be irrational about something like this.
I'm glad that the programming field is in general a lot better about this, recognizing that the degree isn't the be all and end all of an applicants ability to do a job.
- Commits to open source projects
- Answers on Stack Overflow
- Karma on Hacker News
I will also require students to write essays, however I will permit the student to submit blog posts as essays. I will use PageRank or upvotes by Hacker News to determine the letter grade awarded for the "essay."
Oh, wait...
>> - Commits to open source projects
>> - Answers on Stack Overflow
>> - Karma on Hacker News
They seem particularly insidious because they target the uneducated and jobless/desperate.
As a side note, I thought it was amusing that you mentioned that a "university" would target the uneducated. (Yes, I'm using the term "university" very loosely).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_mill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_mills_in_the_United_Sta...
Besides the apparently bogus agencies cited in the article about Lorenz, established for-profits control their own national accreditation body, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). Another tactic is to latch on to national agencies that have traditionally served vocational schools and community colleges, such as the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). This is how the University of Phoenix has accredited its MBA and DBA programs.
Regional agencies are regarded as the gold standard in the United States, but the for-profits figured out a way to game that system, too: Buy out small, struggling non-profit colleges that have regional accreditation, and then replace the old curriculum and mission with scalable, high-profit online programs. The regional accreditation transfers, although there's no guarantee it will be renewed the next time it is reviewed.
One well-known example involved an obscure Catholic school in Iowa with 312 students known as Franciscan University of the Prairies. It was bought in 2005 by Bridgepoint Education, renamed "Ashford University", and turned into an online university with 42,000 students. It was nevertheless able to keep its regional accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, although it is apparently trying to transfer accreditation to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges -- the same body that has accredited Stanford, the UC and California State systems, etc.
For more information about the for-profit higher education phenomenon in the U.S., I recommend the following Frontline special, "College Inc.":
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/colle...
The problem of low quality schools screwing over students who are not college material (and a few who are) is hardly limited to for-profit colleges. For-profits just got a lot of press because various parties (short sellers, non-profits worried about competition) pushed the story.
In fact, there is a Lorentz-Lorenz equation. Somewhat more confusingly, when you study Maxwell's equations on a Lorentz background, it is often convenient to work in the Lorenz gauge.
Spam, usually goes the way of the dodo, but this piece was so hillarious I actually forwarded it to a number of spam hating friends.
When you pretend to provide "any degree" in "no time" "anywhere" you should at least get the spelling in your spam right.