We also found that for the five associate’s degrees we were interested in,
tuition at a for-profit college was significantly more than tuition at the
closest public college. On average, for the five colleges we visited, it cost
between 6 and 13 times more to attend the for-profit college to obtain an
associate’s degree than a public college. Government Accounting Office, 11/30/2010
PBS Frontline produced this excellent expose of for-profit colleges that put profits before educating students. This program will teach students to be skeptical and to ask good questions.
Here is a checklist to allow you to quickly an easily check whether a school and it's degree are real or fake. You've seen the ads and received the spam for quick degree scams - "Get your degree in 30 days!" "No studying required", "Turn your experience into a degree". They say they are accredited and the degree is legal and meaningful. That's part of the scam. Starting with the simplest, fastest ways to check, here is a checklist to help you verify if a school you are interested in is real, and to spot the diploma mills, and separate the scams schools from real educational institutions:
Is the school you are interested in accredited?