Life Experience degrees give students credit based on their work and life experience. The New York Times assures readers that not all schools offering credit for experience are fraudulent. Knowledge acquired through political work, management and writing can translate into credits at schools, such as at the City University of New York. However, many websites promise whole degrees based on students' work experience and ask very few questions about their actual knowledge on the subject. Students need to prove what they learned to receive credit for the work they did outside of school. This usually takes a lengthy interview process with an admissions counselor, and paperwork documenting the students' work and what was learned. This process may take months and cost several hundred dollars.
Many websites offer students expedited degrees based entirely on life experience. Unfortunately, they do not ask applicants to provide proof of their education or experience. Some do not even ask for a resume, writing sample or how they learned from their work experience; they simply calculate one year of work as one year of college. If a website offers evaluations in one day, degrees for a low set fee, do not request you take tests or provide writing samples, or ask very little about your previous education, there is a good chance the offer is fraudulent.
The U.S. federal government expects states to individually handle issues of businesses offering fake degrees. Unfortunately, many businesses outside the U.S. create the websites and sell the fake degrees, making prosecution difficult. Also, certain states have very lax laws concerning education and fraud. Fake on-line degree programs appear mostly in Wyoming, Mississippi and Alabama, where these laws are easy to break. Even states that prosecute diploma mills do not give the task the highest priority, since it is a white-collar crime. Most places, like Oregon, seek to educate consumers and list unaccredited schools so people can protect themselves.
USA Today describes some ways people used degrees from fake schools, many of which offer Life Experience degrees. People with false degrees sometimes create resumes that do not specify the subject of their degree. These false degrees have helped "candidates" land jobs like sex-abuse counselors, athletic coaches and even college vice-presidents. The degrees come from schools with reputable-sounding names and the employers didn't perform background checks on the employees' degrees. Unfortunately, this lapse in judgment, for the employees using the degrees and for the employers who hired them, did significant damage to the reputation of on-line schools. Also, in some cases, it has done much damage to people and families of those who seek help from a person holding a fake degree.