I also had some post masters applied research courses from LSU that I wanted to use toward a PhD. Since those course completion dates were over 5 year old, they were not acceptable for transfer credit at most universities at the time.

The bottom line was that I had about 30 hours of course work at the master’s level completed at two other universities… USC and LSU.

In principle, had I been in the USA and could have transfered all the credit hours, I would have only lacked writing the dissertation to complete the PhD program.

I appplied to PWU and was accepted. I had to take several additional research and writing courses at the time. I was not just given the option to “buy” a diploma. Many of the courses Con Power listed were also requirements I had to fulfill.

Then there was the dissertation… in my case a work entitled “A Clypian Database Management Network - An Alternative to Traditional Networks” based on a US Army information management project I designed, implemented, trained and used in Central Europe. The dissertation was based on a three year information technology project that was nominated by European military commanaders for the INSCOM (United States Army Intelligence & Security Command) Commander’s Award in 1992.

I also had an oral exam to defend my dessertation - long distance teleconference with a couple other instructors.

The point is that though PWU may or may not have been a mill… there are still some very talented people that paid a legitimate academic price for their degrees.

It is also worth remembering that distance learning programs such as PWU in the early days were not acceptable by any established academic institution or regulatory body at the time. Nowadays, there are several distance learning programs that are acceptable by many of the leading institutions of higher learning.

If a person “bought a degree”, they could have actually done the same thing if they approached the right people at any university.

However, if a person did the coursework required, it was graded, and he fulfilled the basic requirements as demanded by any other program, I’m not so sure we should dismiss the individual because of some shady business practices of PWU (if indeed they did that) or any other distance learning program.

Con Power and other graduates shld be judged on their abilities and not their academic achivements. There are many PhDs that can not pour water out of a boot even if the instructions are written on the heel.

Under various pretexts it sells degrees.

Employers should beware, its “qualifications” are worthless and any job applicant who puts a PWU certificate on their resume should be given a wide berth.

I very much appreciate you carrying my response, and also your extremely balanced and fair comments.

Regards

Con