Articles
 |
|
LinkedIn Professionals Found Listing Life Experience Degrees on Resumes |
| Diploma Mill Police > Life Experience Degree |
| By GetEducated Consumer Reporting Team |
| Rochville University, an online college lacking proper accreditation, and specializing in life experience online degrees, awarded a distance online MBA (a life experience college degree) to a dog (GetEducated's pug mascot, Chester Ludlow) for $499. Yet Rochville University's diplomas based on work experience and life experience continue to be touted by hundreds of professionals on the resumes they post to LinkedIn, a popular online networking site.  Besides Rochville, many other online colleges that lack proper distance learning accreditation are listed by LinkedIn users on their public resumes—thousands of professionals claiming what amounts to fake diplomas and phony degrees. HR screeners be forewarned: degree and resume fraud may be rampant. Professionals with Flimsy Paper Pedigrees A recent search found 457 LinkedIn members listing online education degrees from Rochville University, including an assistant vice president at Merrill Lynch Commodities; a language instructor at the University of Virginia; and a criminal justice consultant (retired from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Chief Fraud Division). Almeda University has been called a diploma mill by Alan Contreras, administrator of Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization. A search of LinkedIn for professionals listing Almeda in their educational profiles yielded 1,791 results. Among them: the lead consultant forensic psychologist at a UK mental health facility, a systems engineer at NASA, and a contract manager at an aerospace firm in Denver. Why do employers continue to hire people who list fake degrees? “Diploma mills are a major problem for employers,” says Kellie O’Shea, human resources professional with Creative Services, Inc., a background screening company. “They provide diplomas, transcripts, references, website portals and phone numbers to contact them to obtain verifications.” Unsuspecting employer representatives looking to verify education information, says O'Shea, are often unaware that they are dealing with a fake college. Chester the pug, for instance, received not only a fake diploma and two sets of college transcripts from Rochville—but also a phone number he could give to any employer seeking to “verify” his online college attendance. Fake Diplomas: An Easy Scam Only about 34 percent of employers check educational qualifications on resumes at all, according to a 2004 study by the Society for Human Resource Management—even though the association found that 25 percent of people inflated their educational achievements on resumes.  Among the minority of employers who do check college credentials, most only check a student's attendance or graduation dates. Few check whether the university itself is properly accredited.“One reason online degree mills continue to thrive,” explains GetEducated.com founder Vicky Phillips, “is that employers are confused about college accreditation. All degree mills are accredited. The trick is that they are accredited by fake agencies—agencies that they themselves have created.” Rochville claims accreditation by the Board of Online Universities Accreditation and the Universal Council for Online Education Accreditation. “Rochville may indeed be ‘accredited’ by these agencies, but neither agency is recognized as a college accreditor by the U.S. Department of Education—or by any other valid international accrediting body,” says Phillips. Employers on Alert for Fake Degrees and Life Experience College Degrees Nick Fishman, chief marketing officer of EmployeeScreenIQ, says that even though the number of diploma mills is growing, awareness of the problem is also increasing. He believes more employers today are checking educational credentials. "It's tough to get a handle on" the number of companies verifying schools and degrees, says Fishman, but "organizations are getting more cognizant about it." The current tough economy, says Fishman, has resulted in more would-be employees trying to pass off fake college degrees. Phillips estimates that more than 75 percent of people in the United States who buy fake degrees know exactly what they are doing. “A real online MBA costs more than $35,000, but can raise your earning potential by $10,000 per year," she says. "If you can get a fake MBA for less than $500 in under 30 days, and qualify instantly for a $10,000 raise, well, that’s more financial temptation than many can tolerate.” The High Cost of Resume Fraud For many companies, says Fishman, “There is no margin for error anymore—if you hire the wrong person, it costs money to replace them.” Other costs to companies when employees purchase credentials from degree mills: * tuition reimbursement the company gave for the fake degree; * damage to the company's reputation, especially if the employee is in a public position and the resume fraud makes the news; * exposure to litigation if the employee was in a position of public trust or safety (such as a health professional using a supposedly legitimate medical degree). “When a company fills a position and holds a person out to be an expert and boasts about credentials and education, it’s a PR nightmare to find out they don’t have the actual degree or it’s a degree from a diploma mill,” says O'Shea. Employers who want to check out traditional and online schools to see if they are legitimately accredited, says Fishman, "can do this pretty easily once they know what they are doing." To help employers understand online college accreditation GetEducated.com has developed a free database and list of degree mills, the Diploma Mill Police (TM). This free distance learning accreditation verification service provides factual information about online college accreditation. The free service also provides advice on how to spot and avoid online education scams. Life Experience Degree Mill News: Dog Gets Online MBA Pug Dog Gets Online MBA: a Cautionary Tale (YouTube video) Degrees of Shame: Top 10 Diploma Mill Abuses Distance Learning, College Accreditation and Online Degree: The Facts Unrecognized, Fake & Dubious Online College Accrediting Agencies GetEducated's Top 10 Signs of a College Degree or Diploma Mill College Degree Mills: What They Are & How They Work GetEducated.com's Diploma Mill Police (TM) © 2010 GetEducated.com, Get Educated, Inc. |