I went back to college, at the age of 41, to finish my undergraduate work. (I was working on the 25 year plan.) I finished my education degree in 1998 and started teaching Second Grade. I got my Gifted certification the following year. By that time I needed another break from school. And so I set the cruise control for eight years and avoided any large bumps in the road. You can only go for so long looking at the same scenery. Big changes were happening at my school and this was the perfect time to make a change. Then the reality sets in. I have decided to go back. Now I need to find a school.
A couple of years prior to this decision, numerous accounts were brought to light in the Atlanta area of educators and administrators that had gotten bogus degrees from “diploma mills”. They paid anywhere from $8,500 to $10,000, never attended a class, turned in a couple of papers and received their Masters, Specialist, or even their doctorate degree. OK. So I guess I am not going to attend The International University on the Isle of Bewengi. One university down, half a million to go. I know from my first false start on my Masters that time management is an important factor for me. Driving to and from class and sitting for hours on a campus won’t work. I’ve got to go online, but where and who? Reading my monthly copies of Edutopia and Instructor, I have seen a number of schools that offer degrees online. They must be legitimate, but will the Georgia Professional Standards Commission and my county accept their degrees?
The other end of the “diploma mill” dilemma is the “accreditation mill”. You might find a college that looks to be legitimate and when you delve deeper, you find that they are indeed accredited. “Accredited by the Superior Programs of Academic Moneymakers (SPAM)” is not currently recognized by the GA PSC. In fact, there are specific accreditation organizations for different regions of the country. Who knew? CHEA knew! The Council for Higher Education Accreditation is an excellent place to start. In my case, the school that I was considering is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Sounds good. CHEA told me they were good. But I don’t live in the Northwest. I live in Georgia. For me, all it took was one call to my school board. For an online university, if the degree is recognized by the state that the online university is located in, it would be accepted here. A little research. A big peace of mind.
Knowing that I would not be wasting my time was important to me. What is one of the first things that YOU are looking for about your prospective school?
