Posted on 12/09/2004 5:55:28 PM PST by SJackson
In an expanding worldwide market of e-learning, an online university in the United States is being sued for allegedly selling bogus degrees, including an MBA degree awarded to a cat.
The news of the lawsuit, filed on Monday, could come as a bit of a shock to Indians, who are logging in by the thousands to acquire a relatively inexpensive foreign degree. While the cost of an online course is considerably less than an onsite one, the money still runs into thousands of dollars or pounds.
Trinity Southern University in Texas, a cellular company and the two brothers who ran them are accused of misappropriating Internet addresses of the state Senate and more than 60 Pennsylvania businesses to sell fake degrees and prescription drugs by spam e-mail, according to the lawsuit filed by the attorney-general’s office in Pennsylvania, United States.
Investigators paid $299 for a bachelor’s degree for Colby Nolan — a deputy attorney-general’s six-year-old cat — claiming he had experience in baby-sitting and retail management.
The school, which offers no classes, determined that Colby’s resume entitled him to a Master of Business Administration degree; a transcript listed the cat’s course work and 3.5 grade-point average.
Prosecutors said more than 18,000 illegal e-mails were sent out this year with links to Trinity Southern’s web address, including 300 that appeared to originate from the Net servers of Pennsylvania companies and institutions. Among the alleged victims are Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as Internet service providers, businesses and tech firms.
They call me MR. Tibbs!
catnews
Bid deal, I knew a chick who got a PhD.
...and I thank you.
LOL. Better add "Mr. Tibbs, M.B.A."
I have met a lot of people with MBAs and have yet to meet one as smart as my cat.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that no "online university" was involved, contrary to the explicit claims of this article. These were a couple of con men who sold people fake diplomas. These kinds of articles unfairly perpetuate the "guilt by association" of legitimate online universities granting real diplomas.
MBA School = Advanced Fraternity Studies or Graduate Research in Alcoholic Beverage Design
MBA = Metastasized Brain Association
Uh..ok. Try getting a job WITHOUT one.
the lastest edition of Reason had a great article about how many of our high level bureuacRATS in homeless security
and TSA have fake degrees from this and similar places.
I high school degree from 50 years ago was the equivalent
of a Masters today (IMHO)
I manage a business for a non-profit, as well as two small businesses of my own. Have done this for years...and I never did finish my BA in Business. (My Bad. Real life and earning serious cash without the degree seemed to get in the way. Go figure!)
Some days I think about finishing up my BA and then going for my MBA, but now I think I'll just do some creative photo-copying using my cat's "sheepskin" and be done with it once and for all, LOL!
So, what company hired this cat?
I can think of several that might have....
This could lead to the tax deductable--three laps of milk lunch.
Perspective students submit a detailed self-evalution for the degree of their choice, BA, BS, MA, MBA, or PhD. A TSU registrar will evaluate your application within 5-7 days and contact you via email with the results of their evaluation.
Sounds to me like the cat may have been lowballing his credentials. Mine is going for the PhD. Of course, it does have to be a "self-evaluation"--no fair if the owner does the paper work!
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