College students caught selling master's degrees (schools, accreditation, paying, program)

[ggjacobsen]

Police in College Park, Maryland, briefly arrested three college students for selling MBA, MPA and MEd degrees, all of which had "regional" accreditation. The students were released the same day when it was determined that no law had actually been broken.

The students charged others $400 to complete all academic work required in graduate-level courses offered by the online division of Strayer University (Arlington, VA). They guaranteed grades of A or B in each course, or else the fee would be refunded. Strayer requires only 12 courses to be completed for an MBA, MEd or MPA degree. Thus, the student entrepreneurs would charge $4,800 to complete all coursework, including exams for each degree. Those seeking the degrees also had to pay for tuition, but not for books.

All exams at Strayer are open-book. Students do not attend classes. The school has regional accreditation from MSCHE, headquartered in Philadelphia.

[truckingbronco]

I think that answers the post about the quality of Strayers.

[ggjacobsen]

Originally Posted by truckingbronco

I think that answers the post about the quality of Strayers.

Small point: the name is Strayer Univ, not Strayers. Also, although the school says its "headquarters" is in WashDC for accreditation purposes, it has actually registered with the Virginia State Corporation Commission as located in Arlington, VA. Go figure.

[JoeOxfordCT]

Originally Posted by truckingbronco

I think that answers the post about the quality of Strayers.

I believe the story has more to do with folks paying others to take online classes for them than anything else.....could have happened at any school offering these types of classes...

Harvard offers online classes (Distance Learning)

Distance Education : Harvard Extension School

Yale plans to do likewise....

Yale to Make Select Courses Available on the Internet

MIT has been doing it for awhile....

Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare

Are these bad schools too ?

[Humanoid]

Are these bad schools too ?

No, but the students that are going to them are much different than the people at Strayers.

Anyhow, University "extension" programs are not the same as the standard university programs. So Harvard could have a crappy extension program yet excellent standard education.