The
University of Berkley
A
DIPLOMA MILL
(This
is not to be confused with
The
University
of California, Berkeley)
A
Diploma mill is a “so called” university or college with
substandard or no academic study and without recognition by the
education accreditation board. These degrees are often awarded based
on construed life experience.
Admission
criteria consist entirely of possession of a valid Visa or
MasterCard.
Universities
do not commonly charge flat fees. They charge per credit or per
course tuition and fees.
In 2005, Attorney General Tom Corbett filed a civil lawsuit against a former New Mexico State Trooper accused of operating an Erie-based online 'diploma mill' and phony accreditation institution that sold thousands of bogus Associate, Bachelor's, Masters, Doctorate and Honorary degrees to individuals nationally and internationally. The complaint and separate motion for special injunction seeking to shut down the online business was filed in Erie County Court. The legal action investigated by Corbett's Bureau of Consumer Protection additionally seeks to permanently prohibit the defendant from engaging in business in the state and require the payment of fines.
Dennis J. Globosky was court ordered to pay $75,000 and move his business out of the state to settle investigators' claims that he was running an illegal online diploma mill. When he did not pay the fines. In 2009, Senior Deputy Attorney General Carm Presogna went to Erie County Court to ask a judge to cite Globosky for contempt of court and order him to pay $130,035 in civil penalties and costs.
Charges are that Globosky, through entities called "The University of Berkley" and "The University of Berkley Online," sold bogus online degrees, which cost between $2,065 and $4,995. One of the results, this is now found at the bottom of the website:
The owners/operators of this site may not conduct business with residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA
Pennsylvania's attorney general has won a court order to immediately
shut down the University of Berkley, an online operation based in Erie,
Pa., that he accused of selling thousands of bogus degrees.... The order
also freezes the personal and corporate assets of the owner, Dennis J.
Globosky.... [The attorney general] believes that Mr. Globosky, 50, has
sold more than 12,500 illegitimate degrees, including associate,
bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, and has taken in revenues
exceeding $34-million.... written by DEVIN VARSALONA iWatch News
....AND YET IT IS STILL OPERATING TODAY...
This
is on their website:
The University of Berkley website in 2012 Price list: An Associates degree for as little as 2,515. You can get
a Bachelors degree for as little as 2,785.00. A Masters for
3,145.00 and a Doctorate for only 3,895.00 and Bach/Mas for
4,315.00.
"An
alternative school offering individual, non-residential,
specialized college degree online programs in the United States and
internationally.”
“We encourage students to try
to finish within 9 months, but you may
finish in 2 weeks"
At the bottom of their website:"The owners/operators of this site may not conduct business with residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA" - red flag?
“You
will earn 20 credits simply by examining your life in detail and
completing the forms.”
What's
not to love here? You can earn 20 college credit hours just by
completing the forms??? Wow! How could they not be legitimate?
These
are just a few things you will find on their website which by the way
they have copyrighted wouldn't want anyone breaking the law would we?
So I didn't copy and paste the long list of degrees you can
NOT, earn
by paying
for them.
“The University of Berkley” happens to have people sign
a contract (yes, THEY want this to be legal) stating
that they know exactly what they are paying for and will not sue them
later. So yes, if you are alright with lying to your boss, family and
friends this just might be the phony degree or rather piece of paper
of no real value, for you. If however, you are an honest hardworking
person you might want to pass on this one.
I read today that
people caught holding and using these so called, “degrees” are
being charged with fraud. Maybe not such a great idea after all.
Just
think how you would feel if your doctor of anything had one from life
experience and got 20 of those credit hours simply by filling out the
form wonder how many you get for paying. I also wonder where that life
experience came from? How many babies did he deliver or how many
surgeries has non-medical person done.. Pretty scary when you think
about it. I read about a women who claims, she really thought she was
getting a medical degree and was a real doctor. I wouldn't want to be
her patient that's for sure. Not trying to belittle or put someone
down but if you think you can pay money and become a real doctor no thanks think, I
will pass.
I have two daughters, nieces and a nephew along with my husband who are working
full time jobs and getting their degrees on line, all in colleges
which are legitimate so for someone to PAY for what my family members and countless others are
working so hard for does offend me but one day they will be able to
hang up, with pride, their degrees on their office walls and show off
the hard work they have accomplished.
The
good news for adult education is that there are two
regionally accredited, distance learning colleges, Thomas
Edison State College and Excelsior
College, they operate primarily as assessment colleges.
These
two colleges were founded in the 1970s to help adult and on-line
students earn undergraduate degrees through credit-for-experience
options. It is possible at these two colleges to earn an entire
college degree without taking a single formal course. Most students
do however take college courses these two are legal! You can learn
more at this site
http://www.geteducated.com/diploma-mills-police/life-experience-college-degree/162-is-a-life-experience-online-degree-a-scam
Some helpful resources if you are wanting to earn a degree on line:
Accreditation and Licensing
U.S. Department of Education - A list of all postsecondary
institutions that are accredited by agencies recognized by the Secretary
of Education.
http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation
U.S. Department of Education - Overview of accreditation in the
United States and List of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies.
www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html
National Association of State Administrators and Supervisors of
Private Schools - Provides contact information for state licensing
agencies as well as links to many of them.
www.nasasps.com
Degree.net - Simple questions to ask about accreditation about earning unaccredited degrees.
www.degree.net/guides/accreditation_faqs.html
sources:
http://diplomamillnews.blogspot.com
teachers.net
wikipedia.org
ed.gov
geteducated.com
http://www.geteducated.com/diploma-mill-police/degree-mills-list/university-of-berkley-accreditation