If you’re interested in pursuing an online degree or certificate, you have a wide variety of classes and programs from which to choose. Online offerings have been growing in numbers, enrollment and perception. These days, there are also scholarships, grants and other forms of financial aid available to help pay the tuition.
Accreditation has a lot to do with it, a 2001 report from the American Council on Education Center for Policy Analysis and EDUCAUSE suggests. When a college, university or career and technical institute is accredited, that signals to the federal government that it provides students a quality education deserving of financial aid, the report notes. Online college, university and technical school programs apparently proved their potential during a U.S. Department of Education pilot program years ago. Officials have since been working to ensure that students who pursue online college studies receive a quality education.
Online institutions can be accredited by national or regional agencies, but not all accrediting agencies are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.? Agencies that are part of the nationally recognized Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions are. These agencies look at areas such as interactivity, trained faculty, student services and advertising as part of the accreditation process.? In October, the U.S. Department of Education reportedly published updated guidelines that add requirements, such as verifying student identities and monitoring enrollment growth.
“Diploma mills” or “degree mills,” as they’re known, have been a problem, reportedly selling degrees for a flat fee.? According to Wisconsin State Senator Fred Risser, the problem is “increasing”.? Risser in May announced a newly crafted law prohibiting the establishment of degree mills in Wisconsin. Many other states have passed similar laws, the announcement from his office noted.
Others, including Congressman Timothy H. Bishop of New York, also have proposed cracking down on diploma mills, according to a January report in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Federal Trade Commission in 2005 issued a “Facts for Business” guide to help businesses avoid hiring people with phony degrees. The guide recommended that employers check credentials and provided a list of warning signs, such as “quickie” degrees earned within a short period of time or several degrees earned in the same year, and institutions with names similar to prominent schools but located in different states. Students can find a list of accredited schools and recognized accreditation agencies on the U.S. Department of Education web site.
Even with accreditation procedures for online institutions in place, students as late as 2006 might have been hard-pressed to find government grants and loans for some online programs. The law until that time denied grants and loans to students attending institutions where more than half of all students and programs were online, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education report. The restrictions, part of what was known as a “50 Percent Rule”, were created in 1972 as a means of curbing the rapid growth of fraudulent diploma mills and correspondence schools, a 2005 Inside Higher Education report noted.
The problem was apparently so acute that, for the bargain price of less than $400, Colby Nolan reportedly earned an executive MBA online. Colby, a pet cat, was accepted into the online degree program after investigators filed an application claiming he had attended community college and held babysitting and fast food jobs, according to reports. The online degree that the feline earned — with a 3.5 grade point average, mind you — was reportedly worthless. An attorney general’s office is said to have filed a fraud lawsuit against the company that awarded it.
Around the same time, federal officials apparently came to see the value of legitimate online colleges, universities and vocational schools. As part of a demonstration program, college grant restrictions for participating online institutions were eased, higher education access improved and online education enrollment significantly increased, according to an Education Department report mentioned in the Inside Higher Education article.? Institutions with more than 5,000 students in the 2003-2004 academic year cited that as many as 79 percent of their students qualified for college grants and scholarships, the Inside Higher Education piece noted. The Department of Education suggested expanding the program to include more online institutions and recommended that the 50 percent rule be eliminated, according to the article. Government representatives agreed, with one saying the laws were out of touch with student needs of the 21st century, the article noted.
