I beg to differ with you Dr. Sivana. A degree from HES is a real Harvard degree. The Extension School is one of the four schools of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. FAS is the intellectual center of the University. Harvard also has 12 professional and graduates schools, e.g. law, business,design. They all give Harvard degrees, even the uber liberal Kennedy School gives a Harvard degree and - gasp - even accepts students from the HES to their graduate program. Students in HES can benefit from and listen to the same regular professors who lecture in other schools that are part of the university. And I have to say, Harvard does have some spectacular faculty who deliver superb lectures.
Thank you for the added information and gentle correction. I had confused the Harvard Extension School with similar sounding, non-selective community outreach programs like the one Yale has. I had made a false assumption and the Harvard Extension is a different animal.