CCU Issues in Texas??

[sky_light]

I found this article off another website, and I am appalled at the state of TX for such labeling of CCU. I am a current student of CCU myself, and can testify to the fact that CCU is not a fraudulent or diploma mill institution. Texas needs to do their homework when it comes to accreditation and stating the facts about an institution!!!!!!!!

The Beaumont Enterprise - LU prof burned by 2nd degree from distance ed program

[Katterina]

Frankly, I wonder how it would be legal for the state of Texas to discount legitimately accredited degrees, much less prosecute people for using them. The DETC is an accreditor that is authorized by the US Department of Education. I understand that the CCU doctorate degrees were never accredited by the DETC, but to consider all CCU degrees unaccredited is simply ignorant.

[ShotoJuku]

I believe what is at issue here are any pre-DETC accreditation Ph.d degrees issued at CCU years ago prior to CCU gaining DETC accreditation which all current programs enjoy now.

[Basket Weaver]

Freaking great...the town of Beaumont is exactly 13 miles from where I grew up...and the college (Lamar University) is where my sister received her RN. I'm never going to hear the end of this.

Brian, I too understand what the intent was of the article, however that's not what it said...in fact it was quite clear in calling CCU a diploma mill.

Chavez said the number of "diploma mills" or institutions that award academic degrees with substandard or no academic study are on the rise, prompting the legislation that makes using degrees from these schools illegal. The law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2005. Advertisement

Chavez said many people who patronize these so-called "diploma mills" are knowingly committing fraud, but many others are unwittingly duped.

He said the incidents involving Sisk and Hebert illustrate the need for potential higher education students to do their homework before they enroll in any school, especially obscure, for-profit universities.

Chavez said the higher education coordinating board's lists of accredited and non-accredited schools are a good place to start.

"When people buy cars or televisions, they do research before they buy and they should be doing the same things with their higher educations," he said. "Check out the school. Find out what kind of students they are producing. Make sure you will be getting a quality degree."

California Coast University is one on a list of about 400 institutions compiled by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board that have not been approved and whose degrees cannot be used in Texas. In fact, degrees from those institutions are described as "fraudulent" or "substandard."

I don't want to be forced to defend the college everytime its name gets drug through the mud. Finding a job after I retire will be difficult enough without employers thinking I have a bogus degree.

I will be calling CCU today, they need to take action on this.

[sky_light]

Several things must be done here:

1. What makes the claims of TX against CCU valid? The state of TX must prove these claims against CCU, or "back-off" from their claims and issue necessary apologies for defaming the school, its students and misleading the public.

2. To undermine a school is one thing, but to undermine the DETC which is a respectable accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education is another thing. The DOE & DETC "must take immediate action" to protect institutions under their span of accreditation.
About the DETC:
DETC

3. Labeling an accredited institution "fraudulent" or a "diploma mill" is a serious charge. CCU must defend it's honor by legally challenging the state of TX in this situation - to protect both its reputation and student body from these damaging claims of fraud.

I hope to see a positive outcome from all of this, since a state cannot define and impose its own set of educational standards which totally oppose the set standards defined by the U.S. Government and its agencies.

[Basket Weaver]

I just got off the phone with a professor at CCU. He stated that this has been addressed before at the Texas Supreme Court; indeed Texas does NOT recognize DETC as an accreditation agency. Since this is a direct violation of federal law, many people are confronting them about it. Until it's resolved, I can not work in my home state because they will not honor my degree . Keep in mind, this goes way beyond CCU, many distance learning degree programs are being discriminated against by this idiotic Texas ruling. After years of listening to Texas jokes, I see that many of them were fairly accurate.

I also just sent the author of the article a mail which I enclosed here for your viewing pleasure; may I encourage others concerned about this issue to do the same. Talking and whining about it doesn't do any good; taking action does.

Rose Ybarra,

I grew up in Sour Lake and worked in Beaumont in my high school years. Now, half a world away, I am stationed in England with the Air Force. Much to my dismay, I was reminded of home when someone sent me the article you wrote concerning the Professor at Lamar with the questionable Doctorate degree. While the information about her degree was accurate, the information concerning the college itself, as well as DETC, was not. I believe more research should have been done before these comments were printed. As I’m sure you’ve been made aware of by now, DETC is a leading accreditation agency by the US Government and the US Department of Education. Numerous federal agencies use them to accredit their programs, including all the branches of the military. To post that personnel with these degrees are criminal is simply very inaccurate/slanderous. Besides this, your article called CCU a diploma mill, I believe this has opened your paper up to legal issues should the college choose to pursue them; I for one am calling them tonight to ensure they are aware of these claims.

As you can probably tell by now, I am enrolled at CCU and I can assure you that they are NOT a diploma mill. The classes are very tough and all exams are proctored by my base’s Education Office. The US Air Force has paid for all of these classes, something they do not take lightly; CCU is an accepted college with ALL branches of the military because it IS accredited. Being stationed overseas, as I have been for the past 18 years, we do not have the option of attending a traditional brick and mortar college. Distance learning from an approved university is many people’s only choice when choosing to further their education. I will graduate next month with an MBA which will be accepted all over the country…except, according to your article, Texas. Doesn’t quite add up, does it?

While I have no power over what your paper decides to do, I would imagine an immediate retraction, or at the very least, a correction of the facts are in order. I am not alone in this feeling, if you were to read the responses to your article; you will see it has irritated several of your readers. I am also a moderator of an online educational forum; several of the members there are sending mail to the university as well. It seems it is in your paper’s best interest to resolve these inaccuracies.

Thank you for your time.

Anyways, I gave CCU the website address of the article; they stated they would be conferring with the dean and the legal department. Thanks to sky_light to bringing it to everyone's attention.

[barcotta]

Despite the fact that I have no connection with DETC or CCU, I find ignorance of this magnitude enraging. You could write pages on the lunacy of that article and the concept in general, but I chose to focus my rage into sarcasm and submitted the following as a response to the article. I'll send it to the writer as well.

I find this article alarming—as it seems wholly inadequate that the information contained herein is available primarily for residents of the state of Texas and possibly only they are taking a stand against fraudulent institutions and their even more fraudulent accreditors. This problem has the potential to destroy the credibility of the United States government and our entire education system. I understand the following from this article:

“Although California Coast University asserts accreditation by Distance Education and Training Council…that organization is not...recognized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board…”

“California Coast University is one on a list of about 400 institutions…that have not been approved and whose degrees cannot be used in Texas. In fact, degrees from those institutions are described as “fraudulent” or “substandard.”

“Under the Texas Penal Code, the use of a “fraudulent” or “substandard” degree is a Class B misdemeanor.”

There’s much work to be done here, but I’ll start with what appears to be most important. First, someone from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (“THECB”) should immediately contact the U.S. Department of Education and alert them to the fact that they have been identifying the DETC Accrediting Commission as a “nationally recognized accrediting agency under Public Law” since 1955. I don’t think I have to explain any further the damage this could cause to the credibility of the U.S. Department of Education should their endorsement of DETC--accreditor to learning institutions that issue fraudulent and substandard degrees--become common knowledge. I have the same grave concerns with regard to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (“CHEA”). If this becomes common knowledge, their credibility will be shot as well, as they also recognize the DETC.

Next stop should be all branches of the US military, who have unwittingly been duped by the DETC and are, even as I type, offering programs accredited by the DETC.

Finally, the last in this first pass of notifications should go to Governor Perry. You can imagine my shock (and I’m sure his when he finds out) when I discovered that Western Governors University (“WGU”) includes DETC in its list of accreditors. For those who don’t know, here’s a short description of WGU from their web site:

"Truly a university without boundaries, Western Governors University is a non-profit university founded and supported by 19 state governors to serve the needs of today's citizens. At no other time in the history of higher education have the governors of several states joined together to create a university. In addition, WGU is supported by over 20 leading U.S. corporations and foundations."

Their description of their regional and national accreditation, in part, is as follows:

"Why is WGU's regional accreditation important?
Regional accreditation means that WGU's competency-based programs meet the same educational standards for performance, integrity, and quality as those found at other more traditional universities, from large state schools to Ivy League universities. A team of evaluators representing four associations made on-site visits to WGU over a period of two years to review WGU's operations. Based on the reviews and the visiting team's report to the accrediting commissions, WGU was granted regional accreditation. We went through a similar process for our national accreditation by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)."

Imagine going through all that for a fraudulent national accrediting agency! I’m sure they thought the addition of national accreditation would be helpful. Little did they know that they invited fraud and deceit to their doorstep!

What does this have to do with Governor Perry? Well, I found the following at the WGU website:

"Governance of WGU
WGU is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of educators, industry leaders and state governors. In addition, WGU continues to draw support…from the Governors of the Member States that were instrumental in the founding of WGU."

To my horror, included in the list of member states—you guessed it—Texas.

[Katterina]

Originally Posted by barcotta

What does this have to do with Governor Perry? Well, I found the following at the WGU website:

"Governance of WGU
WGU is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of educators, industry leaders and state governors. In addition, WGU continues to draw support…from the Governors of the Member States that were instrumental in the founding of WGU."

To my horror, included in the list of member states—you guessed it—Texas.

Brilliant!!! Oh my goodness, I can't stop laughing!

I sent a strongly worded message directly to the Board yesterday using this link:
THECB > Contact Us

Mine wasn't nearly as thrilling as yours, though. I hope they get the pleasure of reading yours!

[Katterina]

Was the issue resolved? Their list of unaccredited/ illegal schools still shows CCU, but refers to CCU degrees prior to 2005 (when CCU became DETC accredited).

So now- if a CCU doctoral student finished their degree in 2005 or later, I guess their degree is considered accredited by that list, even though those degrees were never approved by the DETC? Way to go, Texas Board.

[barcotta]

Originally Posted by Katterina

Was the issue resolved? Their list of unaccredited/ illegal schools still shows CCU, but refers to CCU degrees prior to 2005 (when CCU became DETC accredited).

So now- if a CCU doctoral student finished their degree in 2005 or later, I guess their degree is considered accredited by that list, even though those degrees were never approved by the DETC? Way to go, Texas Board.

Katterina:

Thanks for the follow-up! It looks like Lee is in the process of moving back to the states and hasn't been in touch in a while, so he may not even know this. This change reminds me of my other great pet peeve--the DSST calculator dilemma. In an effort to "clarify" the types of calculators that are permissible, they defined a calculator that doesn't exist by simply inserting "four-function" into the description. Clear as mud. This one is even more fascinating. Clearly our correspondence (and others I'm sure) had some impact. Their description of CCU degrees now reads as follows:

"No accreditation from a CB recognized accreditor. This refers to degrees issued before 2005."

This, of course, implies that they now recognize the DETC. However, the only other documentation I found on the site that listed recognized accreditors does not yet list them. Maybe they just haven't gotten around to it yet. Interestingly, it lists a couple of bible/theological accrediting agencies--an acknowledgement of their geographical location in the bible belt, no doubt. Didn't CCU stop conferring doctorates in 2005 when they received their DETC accreditation? If so, then this description should be OK--but they should also add the DETC to their list of recognized accreditors. Otherwise, they show recognition of post-2005 CCU degrees here--but they don't show recognition of CCU's accreditor.

Lee should be greatly encouraged by the fact that they moved on this at all--and in the right direction. There's power in the truth.