Complaint Review: Almeda University - Internet

Back in 2003, I committed a terrible mistake.  I was working at a mortgage firm and I was being considered for a promotion but it required a degree.  At the time, I had seen an ad for Almeda College now known as Almeda University.  I thought it was cool that they offered degrees based on past educational credentials and life experiences.  At the time, I was blinded by the fact that they had listed all these accreditation bodies supporting them.  Unfortunately, if I had checked, I would have found out that they are not approved by the Department of Education (DOE).  Long story short, I sent in a fee of about $800 with my application.  I figured they would need time to verify my educational credentials and my prior work experience but lo and behold, less than a few days and I got my degree.  It came as a certificate and a hard framed plaque.  At first, I was thrilled then I realized that they couldn't have verified my information that quickly.  A friend of mine looked it over and told me that this was definitely a diploma mill scam.  Well, at the time I had applied, the state of Washington where I was residing, passed a law making it a Class C felony to anyone who used unaccredited educational credentials to obtain gainful employment or for employment advancement.  Essentially, I had wasted my money.  Well, I figured lesson learned and thankfully, I went and got my degree through a traditional college.

Well, now out of the blue, I received an email from someone named Brad Wilson saying that the Department of Education had changed their policy regarding online degrees based on life experiences and that they needed to me to contact them about this.  Well, I was curious so I called the 800 number but when I called, I realized it had to be a scam.  I spoke with a gentleman named Bob who I could barely understand, he had a heavy Indian (SE Asian) accent.  He explained that for a fee of $450, half of what I paid for my degree back in 2003, they would submit paperwork to the DOE  to get my degree accredited.  Curiously, he didn't try to verify my identity other than asking for my email address and verifying that I had paid for my degree back in 2003.  I told him that I had already obtained my degree and I was not interested.  When I got off the call, I was suspicious so I contacted the DOE via email.

Here is a copy of the email I received from Almeda University with name redacted.  The Almeda email address was [email protected].

Dear Mi****E******,

This is Brad Wilson from the Student Affairs Dept. of Almeda University. I would like to inform you that the US Government body has changed their Educational Policies to improve the standard, quality and acceptability of educational documents for the students using online degree documents worldwide.

After multiple efforts by the governing bodies of Almeda University and its regulatory commissions, we have been successful in getting our degrees (awarded through Prior Learning Assessment) attested and legalized by the US Authorities. This step would ensure global acceptance of your degree from Almeda University in addition to your degree would be treated as a traditionally earned degree everywhere.

Click here to view the official news update on the website of the university.

I personally tried to get in touch with you by phone but was unable to reach you, and would really appreciate it if you kindly contact me in order to have your details updated so that we may proceed further accordingly.

Click Here to have a Live Discussion with our Student Counselors or Call us immediately at our toll free number: 1-866-699-8207 or 1-208-475-3645. You can also reply to this email by specifying the best phone number where you can be reached at.

Regards,

Brad Wilson

Head of Student Affairs

Almeda University

1-866-699-8207

The phone numbers listed above are registered to Almeda University in Idaho.

When a day later, I received an answer from the Department of Education (DOE) and while it is long winded, I highlighted the area that mattered that while the Department of Education does not accredit educational institutions, they do approved which accrediting bodies that will accept and none of the accrediting bodies cited by Almeda University are accepted by the DOE!

The DOE email address I received this reply to is from:  Department of Education - Support <[email protected]>;

Dear Constituent,

Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Education. 

The United States has no Federal Ministry of Education or other centralized authority exercising single national control over educational institutions in this country. The States assume varying degrees of control over education, but, in general, institutions of higher education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy. As a consequence, American educational institutions can vary widely in the character and quality of their programs. 

In order to insure a basic level of quality, the practice of accreditation arose in the United States as a means of conducting non-governmental, peer evaluation of educational institutions and programs. Private educational associations of regional or national scope have adopted criteria reflecting the qualities of a sound educational program and have developed procedures for evaluating institutions or programs to determine whether or not they are operating at basic levels of quality. 

The United States Department of Education does not accredit institutions or programs. Accreditation is done by independent accrediting agencies; however, the Department maintains a list of accrediting agencies and accrediting bodies that it recognizes. You can find these lists of agencies at the following website: 2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. 

For online or correspondence courses, the U.S. Department of Education recognizes the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), which is a non profit educational association that serves as a clearinghouse of information about the distance study/correspondence field and sponsors a nationally recognized accrediting agency called the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council. You may visit the Distance Education and Training Council's web site at detc.org.

Please note that Almeda College/Almeda University is not accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For your general overview, the U.S. Department of Education has a website that provides access to a master list of accredited colleges, universities, and career and trade schools. The database lists approximately 6,900 postsecondary educational institutions and programs, each of which is accredited by an accrediting agency or state approval agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a reliable authority as to the quality of postsecondary education. To access the database, please visit ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 

It is important to note that accreditation does not provide automatic acceptance by an institution of credit earned in another institution, nor does it give assurance of acceptance of graduates by employers. For these reasons, besides ascertaining the accredited status of a school or program, students are advised to take additional measures to determine, prior to enrollment, whether their educational goals will be met through attendance or participation at a particular institution. These measures should include inquiries to institutions to which transfer might be a desire or to prospective employers and when and if possible, personal inspection of the institution in which enrollment is contemplated.

Additionally, if you have a current complaint against this instutiton and have not been able to resolve your dispute using the internal grievance procedures at the school itself, I would suggest contacting your state's higher education agency. Contact information can be found on the following webpage.

sheeo.org/our-members

Once again, thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Education. If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm, EST Monday - Friday. 

Sincerely, 

Julio Torres 

Information Resource Center

U.S. Department of Education 

400 Maryland Avenue SW 

Washington, DC 20202 

I would say with certainty that Almeda University is either misinterpreting a DOE rule or they are blatantly trying to rip off former students who have already been scammed once.

If you get a call or email from these folks and you fell for their scheme once, report them immediately and run!