[O180]Online Degrees In Health

The Federal Trade Commission, America's watchdog consumer agency, has issued yet another warning about an education-related scam. The FTC's missive, entitled "Diploma Mills: Degrees of Deception", takes dead aim at diploma mills, a particularly insidious form of online trickery that plays on the country's love affair with distance learning and online degrees. Victims of the scam respond to an email message promising a college-level degree based solely on their extensive life experience, all in exchange for a relatively modest, one-time fee. For some, the fact that little, if any, course work is ever required makes the offer virtually irresistible.

In some ways, diploma mills have been a scam waiting to happen. The rise of legitimate online universities - the University of Phoenix, Westwood College and Kaplan University are good examples - have made it easier than ever for America's working adults to participate in the learn-to-earn revolution. The job qualifications that come with an online degree generally mean better pay and better career prospects.

While employers now look at legitimate online degrees with much less scepticism than they did just a few years ago, they're far from keen on "diploma mill" graduates. If you get caught holding a diploma mill degree when applying for a job or - perhaps even worse - a graduate degree program, expect to be shown the door in no uncertain terms.

According to the FTC, diploma mills trolling for "graduates" often set their hook and then reel in their catch using a false claim of accreditation. By claiming to be "accredited", a diploma mill can easily create a sense of security in those it targets.

While many people know that American colleges and universities voluntarily have their curriculum reviewed as part of the accreditation process, few are well acquainted with the approximately six regional and eighty professional accrediting associations in the United States. When a diploma mill makes up an official sounding name for its supposed accrediting agency, it's easy to be fooled. One way to confirm a school's accreditation credentials is to check the database of accredited colleges and universities at the Department of Education website.

Of course, says the FTC, a claim of accreditation is really just the icing on the cake for diploma mill scammers. If they're going to take the bait, most recipients of an email offering a diploma mill degree are already sucked into the scam by the idea of having their life experience "officially" recognized, especially when there's no waiting and no attendance requirement. But there are other giveaways, too, that an email offer of a degree isn't everything it's cracked up to be.

Topping the list, perhaps, is the ubiquitous offer of a degree in exchange for a one-time fee. Genuine online colleges and universities charge by the credit hour, reminds the FTC, and not by the degree. Furthermore, an instant degree offer in the form of an unsolicited email or online pop-ups is almost unquestionably a scam. Finally, be on the lookout for imitative names. While not always a dead giveaway - some search engine marketers legitimately target common misspellings of a university's name - diploma mills like to use names that intentionally mimic the names of famous colleges and universities, a tactic that goes so far as to offer on-the-spot degrees from institutions with foreign-sounding names that seem both persuasive and credible.