6 Universities and My Opinion
2 Weeks back I posted 6 Black Listed Universities (post removed). I received the following anonymous email claiming to be an administrator from one of those universities.
I am one of administrative official at one of the school you have mentioned without formal indictments.
This act may and have constituted defaming which certainly financially damaging.We suggest you either to remove this unfounded misleading posting or provide definite indictments.
You have 7-days to act properly before a legal proceeding would follow.
So, I decided to remove the post (agreeing to the email message above). I’m not sure which University personnel sent that email, but why would someone official be Anonymous?
So, I decided to address the issue with my opinion and provide links to other sources of information. Would I apply to any of the following 6 Universities.
- Tri-Valley University (Tri Valley University Raid)
- The University of Northern Virginia (UNVA FBI Raid 2 days Back)
- Stratford University
- Herguan University ( Herguan University Raid and Arrests )
- International Technical University (now accredited – 2013)
- CA Takshila University
Since FBI had already raided 2 Universities, I don’t have to comment on Tri Valley University and University of Northern Virginia.
I’m going to quote following 2 para from Standards for Agents and Colleges (InsideHigherEd.com)
The U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) are making great strides to educate the public on which institutions have legitimate accreditation. The problem is that even unaccredited institutions like Tri-Valley University (which references the education department and CHEA on its website) can be granted authority by the U.S. government to issue I-20s, the documents necessary for foreign students to secure visas to study in the United States.
Others enter one of our counseling centers having no sense of the differences between Harvard University’s regional accreditation, Stratford University’s institutional accreditation through a “national” accreditor, and Herguan University offering no officially recognized accreditation but claiming to be “Approved under the Department of Homeland Security to enroll non-immigrant alien students for attendance by non-immigrant international students,” and asserting that “the California Bureau for Private Post-secondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) has granted Herguan University approval as a California degree-granting institution prior to closing.”
Now, let me quote my opinion on 2 remaining universities Accreditation status
- International Technical University – Regional Accreditation Status: Candidate (review process is going on). More Details Here and here.
- Candidate Status is NOT SAME as Accredited Status.
- CA Takshila University – No Result found for search at http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.aspx
- University Website has .org (not .edu)
Regional vs National Accreditation
In 2006, a 23-year-old woman, Latesha Gonzalez, enrolled with Crown College in Tacoma, Washington. At the time, Crown College was accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT).
Latesha was assured when she enrolled with Crown that a local, regionally accredited college, Gonzaga University, would accept Crown courses as the equivalent of its own.
But when Latesha later attempted to transfer her coursework from Crown to Gonzaga she was told by Gonzaga that it would not recognize credits earned from ACCSCT-accredited colleges.
Latesha sued Crown, as did a number of other disgruntled students. She eventually won the suit.
Source – Regional vs National Accreditation. (from geteducated.com)
I have given my opinion as to why I wouldn’t study or apply for admission in above 6 universities.
Now for you prospective students, I will let you guys decide if above 6 universities are right for you.
News Flash – Herguan University Raid – 450 Students in Trouble.
Herguan is going down as well now.
Their CEO got arrested on visa fraud charges: http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_21222408/sunnyvale-university-ceo-indicted-visa-fraud-charges and ICE served them the notice of intent to withdraw their SEVP certification.
BTW, the link to the ITU candidacy entry on WASC is now http://www.wascsenior.org/apps/node/35196
UNVA have been under investigation after TVU.. Don’t you think they are smarter than us to know what’s going on and be ready with it.UNVA just raided, doesn’t have any charges on it.Its not like TVU.Some of are not aware of the right thing, “joeF” is posting some based less stuff here and there and scaring people on every forums and blogs. UNVA got all their SEVIS access back from SEVIS itself. They are operating normal and can accept new admission as well. SEVIS has some issue with schools and UNVA will deal with it but UNVA will be alright
UNVA has been under investigation at the same time as TVU. ICE wouldn’t have raided them if they didn’t have evidence for wrong-doing. And they most likely got more evidence.
As far as personal attacks on me, that’s a common tactic by students in these organizations affected by a possible closure. I have seen that back when TVU was raided, and now with UNVA. I expect that people will continue to attack me and others who post about these diploma mills.
As far as the details of UNVA’s current SEVP accessibility, that doesn’t change the fact that SEVP’s notice of intent to withdraw UNVA’s SEVP approval continues to be active. UNVA’s current SEVP access allows them to help students transfer out of UNVA.
But anyway, that’s a detail that has nothing to do with the overall issue of UNVA being an unaccredited institution, and likely in violation of the immigration laws.
Another one of these shady institutions is Strayer University. I recently got several spam messages advertising them…
Thank you for your post.
I have gained some reputation in immigration circles, by posting about some of these institutions. Early on, I have made sure that I post opinions which are protected by free speech. If I have evidence of fraud, I of course am bolder. That, for example, has happened in the second half of 2010 when several people, me included, in a long thread on the trackitt.com forum uncovered certain information on Tri-Valley.
I think the cartooney could have come from UNVA, or from Stratford. If I remember right, Stratford sent a “pretty please” letter to some Indian TV station in the wake of the TVU raid, since that TV station listed Stratford as another fake school.
And UNVA is known to have trigger-happy lawyers. They even sued their former accreditor, ACICS, in 2008: http://archive.recapthelaw.org/vaed/223135/
hello sir/mam,
I am Saif studying in final year(I.T.).please tell me the best gre book so i can crack gre exam.
You wont get replies to such questions on this blog.. You should research the posts of other co-readers of the blog. It is available at the top of the HSB website.
I just want to tell you one thing…mentioning particular univ name is surely creating problems to the students in the univ….better to give the URL of the accredation list universities and explain them how accredation is important and helps to their education in US Universities.
Thanks for your great job
hi my sir , am halima from yemen and i want to study in uk in uviersity i finish diploma in the laboratory and i hope complet my study in uk and i hope u help me to tell me how i study there i want to go there and work there as help my self and i hope tell me what i do , cuz i tried every thing to do it to send my paper to the colleg in uk and i hope u tell me the right way thanx for your time and i hope u send me the answer in my email thanx
Hello Sir/Madam,
I am monika studying in 2nd year B.E (mechanical engineering) I would like to take up my post graduation in aeronautical engineering . sir it would be a great help for me if you would suggest books that would help me crack the new gre exam pattern.
then how to identify such fraud universities?????
http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/select-reputed-universities/
There is tremendous introspection necessary.
What is the objective? Is it gaining advanced knowledge/doing research/enhance wisdom or somehow escape from India and get into the US?
Once each of us can honestly respond to this-the way forward would become clear
If any one settles for an unknown,discredited university of US-Is it because he must enter -by hook or by crook?
Can anyone reply me about what is the probability of getting visa if we got I-20 from Silicon Valley University.
dont go for the interview u will get rejected..!!!! silicon is also known as tri valley university
It’s not ranked and it’s a very new school, as in it was established in 1997. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d probably say chances of getting a visa is relatively low.
wat abt CSU Fresno..is it a National Accreditation???
CSU is the abbreviation of “California State University.”
They are a public university, a campus in the CalState system. Public universities are pretty safe with respect to accreditation. They are using public money, and the voters would get really upset if they would get caught in shady things.
In india educational consultants are making money by fooling student by sending them abroad with local not accredited univ. students please study and research thoroughly before choosing univ’s. For me as i say i only trust top 30 US b schools.
people blindly trust ‘educational consultants’ without any knowledge about where they are applying let alone the universities accredition s. they end up in a place like UNV and suffer the consequences.
Information in country like Nepal (from where I come) is so much limited that we are unable to distinguish the official and unofficial version of the stories. In these case, international students like me from third world country can be very easy duped to enroll these type of universities. As prospective international students, I think it is my right to learn about these facts.
I want to personally thank HSB for taking such a bold step.
Good job and great help to students. …….@HSB.
@Admin, simply great information,yes i would not recommend to my children or any indian student.since we spend lots of money and TIME in pursuing higher education with hope it will enrich us in every way. Unfortunately the false pride that education in US ,generally is good no doubt about that but we have to be cautious in getting admitted in to a good university which is accredited by the respective agencies,otherwise the students will be in to lot of problems.
thank you admin for taking time in the midst of your busy time.
with gratitude
easwaran
The wikipedia says(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herguan_University) that “The only program approved by the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau for Private Post secondary Education is the MBA program” But still i guess one should look out before applying.
there is a plethora of genuine universities that students can choose from, I do not understand why students make bad career choice just to get to a country, well you get there and then what? … you would need some kinda skill to succeed and make money at the end of the day. bad University is like a bitchy girlfriend, everyone wants them for a night but no more.. and if you prolong it, a smart person would know what happens 😀
well said. lol.
Well once you are in the country, there are countless body shops that are ready to “train” and do placement. You all know how the body shops work. A new student at such university equipped with CPT, a month or two training and a resume with 8-10 years exp in SAP can make easily 80k. So isn’t that easy money attractive for a 20 odd years kid….
These kids don’t work at body shops. A 20-year old kid with 10 years SAP experience, that’s something even the body shops don’t try.
As the court documents against the TVU owner show, these kids use CPT to work at a 7-Eleven, as store clerks, as security guard: http://archive.recapthelaw.org/cand/240094/
And there have been at least two instances I know of ITU students getting killed in the Midwest in convenience store robberies, indicating that these guys were working the night shift there.
So, these are certainly not the body shop style jobs, and certainly not $80 jobs.
The body shop stuff is mostly over nowadays, since there is a lot of scrutiny for H1s for body shops nowadays. The shady diploma mills identified here will be the reason that F1s for people from a certain country will get lots of scrutiny soon, as well. It is a shame, since there are a lot of very bright real students from that country who would be a tremendous addition to our economy. As always, the bad apples ruin it for everybody.
yes rubbish unis … applicant should watch out. They can sue me.
They completely seem like fraud schools. Someone should e-mail the university list to the DOE and get their opinions on this matter actually.