I was jus about to register myself for an MBA Degree with Almeda University for a cost of $515, until I check with my local Accreditation Authority in SA.

I am told Almeda offers unaccredited degrees and they run a MILL of degrees which wont earn you anything any organisation.

Please help! I need advise asap.

Veronica678

In the United States, you cannot use your Almeda degree for Government jobs or to get into another college. Approximately 60% of private employers do accept the degree. See About Life Experience Degrees : Do Life Experience Degrees Really Work? for more details.

ProfessorR

It's an unaccredited diploma mill (issues worthless degrees), and is illegal in many states, and invalid to any competent HR department that verified that your degree is valid.

Veronica678

To Professor R and all his traditionalist colleagues: Not everyone, especially traditional colleges, are in step with these forward-thinking universities like Almeda. After all, they’ve invested millions in “bricks and mortar”. So it’s no surprise they want to cram students into classrooms—even if it means attending classes on subjects a student already possesses great expertise in. And, if you hold down a full-time job, there’s a limit to how many classes may be offered evenings and weekends. At a “university without walls,” that’s not an issue.

Professor R is just trying to undermine an education than was earned in a different way to the one in which s/he achieved. Surely there can be room in this world to respect all types of education. People prove every day, in all walks of life, that success is not only for those with university qualifications. Malcolm S. Forbes said, ‘the purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.’ If the value of an education earned through life experience cannot be recognized by supporters of university education, then surely it is the value of the latter that is brought into question.

I will say it again: Approximately 60% of private employers do accept the degree. See About Life Experience Degrees for more details.

ProfessorR

I currently teach online courses. There are many, many wonderful online courses and legitimate programs out there that I would strongly recommend to anyone who can’t or chooses not to attend in person.

However, Almeda isn’t one of the legitimate ones. You can easily Google this “school” and quickly find all you need to know about it.

Diploma Mill News (Almeda listed as a “known diploma mill”)

Office of Degree Authorization (Illegal in Oregon and states that Almeda has been closed by legal action)

THECB > Academic Affairs and Research > Private Colleges and Institutes > Fraudulent Institutions (In Texas, Almeda is listed as a "Fraudulent or substandard degree", and that it has been closed by legal action).

Approximately 0% of of private employers will accept this degree. There is a number of small or unsophisticated businesses that may never check your dubious credentials, but I don’t think this counts as “acceptance”.

ProfessorR

I do recommend you check out that link. It’s not sourced, so I assume it was cobbled together by Almeda, Rochville, Kennedy-Western University or some similar entity. A couple things to note from their sage advice on how to fake it with your $500 "degree":

1. Get your story out BEFORE they see your education

2. Next you should see if the college will BACKDATE your degree. Get your degree dated 10 years back or more and it is less likely to be an issue with employers. This is especially true in an interview. Additionally, being vague is perfectly acceptable for something that happened 11 years ago.

3. Take the heat off your degree by having your major in a field that is not directly related to the job you are seeking.

4. The interviewer puts the degree on the spot. Are you prepared to equivocate a little? You must be - because you already got your degree backdated.

5. Lastly, there have been several attempted lawsuits brought against some of these schools under the guise that the purchaser "though" he or she was getting a fully regionally accredited 4-year degree. These have all been dismissed. The problem is that deception by the university is difficult to prove when the student receives his or her degree only two weeks after paying $500.00. In other words, the claims that one "thought" they were getting a traditionally accredited four-year degree have all been dismissed.

6. None of the schools (that's correct. Not ONE of them) is headquartered in the USA. They may have operations and employees in the USA, but they are all registered in foreign countries.

arthurale12

Almeda Degrees are not accepted in Texas, Florida and Oregon but they are accepted in other states. The degree is based primarily upon ones work experience the employers who hire Almeda degreed canidates are those employers who place more value on recognized job experience that classroom experience. The job market pendulum is moving towards those employees are are experienced rather than those who are coming fresh out of college. This is the main reason why many college graduates are leaving the USA in search of jobs abroad. Bottom line is that Almeda University degrees are accepted in some states and rejected in some other states...it is almost like being interviewed for the same job ant then being rejected in one state and then being accepted in another. This kind of puts all things considered about the Almeda Degree in a fair and balanced perspective.