Warren National University
Encyclopedia
Warren National University was a post-secondary
, distance learning
, unaccredited
private university
offering undergraduate
and graduate
degrees
in the United States
, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming
. Until December 14, 2007, its administrative offices were located in Agoura Hills, California
. The institution was established in California
in 1984 under the name Kennedy-Western University, and adopted its new name in 2007. The university had reportedly been economically successful targeting mid-career
professional
s. It has also been the subject of controversy and criticism due in part to involvement in a U.S. federal government
investigation. The Chronicle of Higher Education
said, "The university was notable for its slick marketing and for doling out credit for 'life experience.' "
On January 30, 2009, Warren National University announced that their attempt to achieve accreditation had failed and that they would cease operating on March 31, 2009.
of Wyoming
, Francis E. Warren
, and reflects the university's strong ties to the state of Wyoming. The Encyclopedia of Distributed Learning states, "There are some unaccredited
, profit-making
online universities
that have achieved reported economic success. One example is Kennedy-Western University, which has significant history in serving the corporate
education
market
s." The financial success is supported by an article in the Cheyenne Herald that contained the financial statement for what may have been a peak revenue year, 2003, about $25,000,000. The article added, "The $25 million estimate was almost dead-on. As was the estimate of using 50% of the revenue to generate the revenue" A Report by Verifile Limited, one of the leading background screening firms in the United Kingdom, is the result of an 18-month research project supported by the East of England Development Agency and Cambridge University stated, "one degree mill alone (known variously as Kennedy-Western University and Warren National University) was revealed to have banked approximately £16m in only one year of operation."
Over the university's history, it has moved its mailing address from California, Hawaii
, Idaho
, and finally to Wyoming, while keeping headquarters in California until December 2007. As of December 14, 2007, WNU closed its administrative offices in Agoura Hills, California
, centralizing its operations in Wyoming.
In 2002 The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that KWU was licensed in California up to 1991, "But Kennedy-Western chose not to renew its license after California enacted the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act, a 1989 law that aimed to rid the state of diploma mills." In the same article the Chronicle quoted the school's director of admissions as saying the new California regulations would not have permitted KWU "to offer college credit for work experience and a more flexible self-paced model."
In 1998, when the state of Idaho rejected their renewal application for license
to operate because of a lack of institutional accreditation
, Warren National University moved its mailing address from Idaho to Wyoming. The Seattle Times noted in a 2005 article, that some believed KWU had an address in Wyoming because "the state has become a haven for diploma mills."
In August 2008, WNU announced that it was suspending new student admissions and reactivation of students in order to focus resources on current students. On January 30, 2009, WNU announced that their attempt to achieve accreditation had failed. Therefore in compliance with Wyoming state law they would cease operations on March 31, 2009. It was also mentioned that future university registrar services would be provided by Preston University
. The Cheyenne Herald said, "They were not recommended for eligibility for accreditation and they will now pull the plug on their nefarious operation."
On June 5, 2009 a civil suit was filed by former students alleging that WNU had misrepresented itself to the students. The Cheyenne Herald reported, "it appears probable that WNU
and its predecessor in name, Kennedy-Western University, may have committed illegal acts." Continuing, "That is basically what WNU did to numerous former students - they closed their
doors before even bogus degrees were provided. In effect, they took deposits and fled from Cheyenne."
described Warren National University as a privately held university
incorporated
in California
and Wyoming
, with headquarters
in Thousand Oaks, California
. Principal shareholders named in the article, based on publicly filed papers, were Warren National Chief Executive Officer
and President
Paul S. Saltman of Westlake Village, California
, and Joseph Benjoya. Both the Chronicle article and an earlier article in the USDLA Journal stated that Warren National also claimed to have offices in Moscow
, Jakarta
, and Singapore
.
by any higher education
accreditation body recognized in the United States. As a condition of registration in Wyoming, the institution had to meet standards contained in "Article 4: Private School Licensing." One such requirement, which took effect in July 2006, was that a school must either be accredited or be in the process of becoming accredited by a higher education accrediting organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. In order to continue operating in Wyoming, Warren National University applied for accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
, the recognized regional accreditation
agency serving the state. The accreditation process was expected to take several years. According to WNU, the school achieved "eligibility status" for accreditation in December 2007. The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Commission scheduled an "initial candidacy" visit by an evaluation team on October 13–15, 2008, another required step toward accreditation. As of January 27, 2009, WNU was no longer listed by the Higher Learning Commission as "Applying" for accreditation, but instead as "No Status." On January 30, 2009 the WNU website explained that the evaluation visit did not go well and the recommendation was that the accreditation process should be terminated. Therefore, WNU withdrew their accreditation application.
The Chronicle of Higher Education stated in 2002, "Kennedy-Western University has a history of flirting with accreditation but failing to earn it." In 2001 Warren National announced it was considering applying to the Distance Education and Training Council
(DETC) for accreditation, a legitimate accreditor that is recognized for accrediting distance-learning institutions. However, the DETC's approval from the U.S. Department of Education does not authorize it to accredit institutions that award doctorate
s, and WNU did not pursue DETC accreditation.
Because WNU lacked accreditation, its degrees
and credits
might not be acceptable to some employers or other institutions. For example, WNU graduates were not qualified for faculty positions at WNU, at least not based on their WNU degrees. According to the Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, "There truly is no simple answer to the accredited vs. unaccredited issue, other than to say that one can rarely go wrong with a properly accredited degree. We hear from a moderate number of people who have made good use of an unaccredited (but totally legitimate) degree, but we hear from many more who have had significant problems with such degrees, in terms of acceptance by employers, admission to other schools, or simply bad publicity."
The use of unaccredited WNU degree titles may be legally restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that have restricted or made illegal the use of credentials from unaccredited schools include Illinois
,
Indiana
,
Maine
,
Michigan
,
Nevada
,
New Jersey
,
North Dakota
,
Oregon
,
South Dakota
,
Texas
,
Virginia
,
Washington,
and
Korea
. WNU was also restricted from accepting students from Oregon
, California
, or Utah
. As an example of a law that may restrict WNU degree use, the use of a degree in Nevada that is based upon more than 10 percent life experience is defined as use of a fake or misleading degree and is subject to a fine up to $5,000 or up to six months in jail or both. Note that it would require analysis on a case by case basis to evaluate whether or not the amount of life experience bestowed was greater than 10%. Many other states are also considering restrictions on the use of degrees from unaccredited institutions.
(BBB) in 1996 and formerly had a satisfactory record with the BBB, but on March 26, 2008, BBB's board of directors revoked WNU's accreditation
because WNU had not responded to complaints against it within the BBB's required timeframe.
and master's degree
s in business administration, computer science, management information systems, and health administration, as well as a Doctor of Business Administration degree.
According to a 2004 article in the Laramie County Community College
student newspaper, in the KWU program in 2004 the average time for graduation was 2.4 years; the average student age was 42, with an average of eight years of work experience in their field of study.
At the 2005 Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
, Warren National University faculty members gave a presentation on the method used to deliver academic courses
. Andree Swanson and Keren Meier-Emerich offered the following abstract
for their presentation.
In the "Understanding New Media
" book's section on virtual universities
, author Kim Veltman mentions, "By leveraging the power of the internet
, Kennedy-Western has refined the academic
process and opened up countless opportunities to adult learner
s. And they used Jones e-Global Library
."
In a Chronicle of Higher Education article, Kennedy-Western faculty members stated students, "...often use the same textbooks and take exams as rigorous as those offered in professors' traditional
classes."
s from accredited institutions. In 2002 The Chronicle of Higher Education
reported that WNU would not disclose the number of faculty, the method of compensation, the proportion of faculty that is full-time or the ownership of the institution. However, WNU stated that half of the faculty were full-time faculty members in other institutions, and the Chronicle determined that at least 22 WNU instructors were full-time faculty at other state and private academic institutions, primarily associate and assistant professors in business, computer science
, or engineering
at state universities. According to the Chronicle, these part-time WNU faculty were paid on a piecework basis, reportedly receiving "$25 to grade a paper, a couple of hundred dollars to develop a course, and $40 an hour to answer students' questions." Some of these faculty were unwilling to talk openly about their work for WNU due to concern that their regular employers or their colleagues would disapprove of their work for an unaccredited institution "that many educators hold ... in low regard."
General Accounting Office
(GAO) to determine whether the federal government had paid for degrees from diploma mill
s and other unaccredited postsecondary schools. Investigators determined that the federal government employed 463 individuals with degrees from unaccredited institutions including Kennedy-Western University. Senator Collins presented the GAO report to the Committee on Governmental Affairs
, of which she was the Chair
and ranking Republican
.
Witness testimony was provided during the same hearing by Coast Guard
Lieutenant Commander
Claudia Gelzer, who was assigned as a staff aide to the committee, testified that Kennedy Western gave her life experience credit towards a master's in environmental engineering. Kennedy Western waived 43% of the course credit required for the degree based only on her application and descriptions of prior coursework and military training. She testified that Kennedy Western didn't check any of her claimed work experience. With 16 hours of effort she was able to earn 40% of the total remaining coursework required for her master's. "As for my first-hand experience with Kennedy-Western courses and passing the tests, I found that basic familiarity with the textbook was all I needed. I was able to find exam answers without having read a single chapter of the text... As for what I learned, the answer is very little."
Kennedy-Western was not invited to testify before the Senate committee.
The university's Director of Corporate Communications
, Mr. David Gering, stated to The Oregonian
, "We clearly believe that we are not a diploma mill and have an academically rigorous program." Mr. Lewis M. Phelps, a spokesman
for Kennedy-Western University, said the online university was unfairly tarnished in the report. "The basic equation GAO seems to have come up with is 'no accreditation, no good,' " Phelps said. "We don't think that's valid."
on behalf of three former students, challenging an Oregon law that made it illegal for résumé
s used in connection with employment (including job applications
) in the state to list degrees from institutions that are not accredited or recognized by the state as legitimate. In the suit, WNU asserted that the Oregon law violated its graduates' constitutional rights. In December 2004, Warren National and Oregon reached an out-of-court settlement in the case. Under the terms of the settlement, Oregon agreed to revise its law, allowing graduates of unaccredited and unapproved schools to list an unaccredited degree
on a résumé as long as they note the school's unaccredited status in the résumé. The official required wording being, "does not have accreditation recognized by the United States Department of Education and has not been approved by the [Oregon] Office of Degree Authorization". The statutory revision was enacted in 2005. In the settlement, the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization
(ODA) also agreed to refrain from referring to the school as a "diploma mill
" and the state attorney general
's office agreed to provide ODA personnel with a training session on law related to defamation. However, Oregon still does not allow WNU degrees to be used for governmental employment or for professional licenses
because the ODA determined that the institution does not meet standard academic requirements as specified by Oregon statute
ORS 348.609(1).
Government reports
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
, distance learning
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
, unaccredited
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
private university
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
offering undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
and graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
degrees
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
. Until December 14, 2007, its administrative offices were located in Agoura Hills, California
Agoura Hills, California
Agoura Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and has the ZIP code 91301. The population was 20,330 at the 2010 census, down from 20,537 at the 2000 census. It is located in the eastern Conejo Valley between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. This city on the Ventura...
. The institution was established in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1984 under the name Kennedy-Western University, and adopted its new name in 2007. The university had reportedly been economically successful targeting mid-career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
s. It has also been the subject of controversy and criticism due in part to involvement in a U.S. federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
investigation. The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
said, "The university was notable for its slick marketing and for doling out credit for 'life experience.' "
On January 30, 2009, Warren National University announced that their attempt to achieve accreditation had failed and that they would cease operating on March 31, 2009.
History
Warren National University was established as Kennedy-Western University in California in 1984. Its founder was Paul Saltman. The name was officially changed to Warren National University on January 1, 2007. According to the institution, the new name was selected in honor of the first governorGovernor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, Francis E. Warren
Francis E. Warren
Francis Emroy Warren was an American politician of the Republican Party best known for his years in the United States Senate representing Wyoming.-Early life and military service:...
, and reflects the university's strong ties to the state of Wyoming. The Encyclopedia of Distributed Learning states, "There are some unaccredited
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
, profit-making
For-Profit School
For-profit education refers to educational institutions operated by private, profit-seeking businesses....
online universities
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
that have achieved reported economic success. One example is Kennedy-Western University, which has significant history in serving the corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
s." The financial success is supported by an article in the Cheyenne Herald that contained the financial statement for what may have been a peak revenue year, 2003, about $25,000,000. The article added, "The $25 million estimate was almost dead-on. As was the estimate of using 50% of the revenue to generate the revenue" A Report by Verifile Limited, one of the leading background screening firms in the United Kingdom, is the result of an 18-month research project supported by the East of England Development Agency and Cambridge University stated, "one degree mill alone (known variously as Kennedy-Western University and Warren National University) was revealed to have banked approximately £16m in only one year of operation."
Over the university's history, it has moved its mailing address from California, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, and finally to Wyoming, while keeping headquarters in California until December 2007. As of December 14, 2007, WNU closed its administrative offices in Agoura Hills, California
Agoura Hills, California
Agoura Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and has the ZIP code 91301. The population was 20,330 at the 2010 census, down from 20,537 at the 2000 census. It is located in the eastern Conejo Valley between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. This city on the Ventura...
, centralizing its operations in Wyoming.
In 2002 The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that KWU was licensed in California up to 1991, "But Kennedy-Western chose not to renew its license after California enacted the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act, a 1989 law that aimed to rid the state of diploma mills." In the same article the Chronicle quoted the school's director of admissions as saying the new California regulations would not have permitted KWU "to offer college credit for work experience and a more flexible self-paced model."
In 1998, when the state of Idaho rejected their renewal application for license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
to operate because of a lack of institutional accreditation
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
, Warren National University moved its mailing address from Idaho to Wyoming. The Seattle Times noted in a 2005 article, that some believed KWU had an address in Wyoming because "the state has become a haven for diploma mills."
In August 2008, WNU announced that it was suspending new student admissions and reactivation of students in order to focus resources on current students. On January 30, 2009, WNU announced that their attempt to achieve accreditation had failed. Therefore in compliance with Wyoming state law they would cease operations on March 31, 2009. It was also mentioned that future university registrar services would be provided by Preston University
Preston University
Preston University is the first private university of Pakistan with campuses in Karachi, Kohat, Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad and Ajman...
. The Cheyenne Herald said, "They were not recommended for eligibility for accreditation and they will now pull the plug on their nefarious operation."
On June 5, 2009 a civil suit was filed by former students alleging that WNU had misrepresented itself to the students. The Cheyenne Herald reported, "it appears probable that WNU
and its predecessor in name, Kennedy-Western University, may have committed illegal acts." Continuing, "That is basically what WNU did to numerous former students - they closed their
doors before even bogus degrees were provided. In effect, they took deposits and fled from Cheyenne."
Organization
In 2002 The Chronicle of Higher EducationThe Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
described Warren National University as a privately held university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, with headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
in Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....
. Principal shareholders named in the article, based on publicly filed papers, were Warren National Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Paul S. Saltman of Westlake Village, California
Westlake Village, California
Westlake Village is a planned community that straddles the Los Angeles and Ventura county line. The eastern portion is the incorporated city Westlake Village, located on the western edge of Los Angeles County, California. The city, located in the region known as the Conejo Valley, encompasses half...
, and Joseph Benjoya. Both the Chronicle article and an earlier article in the USDLA Journal stated that Warren National also claimed to have offices in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
Licensing and accreditation status
Warren National University was registered with the Wyoming Department of Education under W.S. 21-2-401 through 21-2-407. This registration allowed the university to legally conduct business in the state. However, WNU was never accreditedEducational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
by any higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
accreditation body recognized in the United States. As a condition of registration in Wyoming, the institution had to meet standards contained in "Article 4: Private School Licensing." One such requirement, which took effect in July 2006, was that a school must either be accredited or be in the process of becoming accredited by a higher education accrediting organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. In order to continue operating in Wyoming, Warren National University applied for accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
, the recognized regional accreditation
Regional accreditation
Regional accreditation is a term used in the United States to refer to educational accreditation conducted by any of several accreditation bodies established to serve six defined geographic areas of the country for accreditation of schools, colleges, and universities...
agency serving the state. The accreditation process was expected to take several years. According to WNU, the school achieved "eligibility status" for accreditation in December 2007. The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Commission scheduled an "initial candidacy" visit by an evaluation team on October 13–15, 2008, another required step toward accreditation. As of January 27, 2009, WNU was no longer listed by the Higher Learning Commission as "Applying" for accreditation, but instead as "No Status." On January 30, 2009 the WNU website explained that the evaluation visit did not go well and the recommendation was that the accreditation process should be terminated. Therefore, WNU withdrew their accreditation application.
The Chronicle of Higher Education stated in 2002, "Kennedy-Western University has a history of flirting with accreditation but failing to earn it." In 2001 Warren National announced it was considering applying to the Distance Education and Training Council
Distance Education and Training Council
The Distance Education and Training Council is a non-profit national educational accreditation agency in the United States specializing in the accreditation of distance education institutions.- History :...
(DETC) for accreditation, a legitimate accreditor that is recognized for accrediting distance-learning institutions. However, the DETC's approval from the U.S. Department of Education does not authorize it to accredit institutions that award doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
s, and WNU did not pursue DETC accreditation.
Because WNU lacked accreditation, its degrees
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
and credits
Credit (education)
A course credit is a unit that gives weighting to the value, level or time requirements of an academic course taken at a school or other educational institution.- United States :...
might not be acceptable to some employers or other institutions. For example, WNU graduates were not qualified for faculty positions at WNU, at least not based on their WNU degrees. According to the Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning, "There truly is no simple answer to the accredited vs. unaccredited issue, other than to say that one can rarely go wrong with a properly accredited degree. We hear from a moderate number of people who have made good use of an unaccredited (but totally legitimate) degree, but we hear from many more who have had significant problems with such degrees, in terms of acceptance by employers, admission to other schools, or simply bad publicity."
The use of unaccredited WNU degree titles may be legally restricted or illegal in some jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that have restricted or made illegal the use of credentials from unaccredited schools include Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
,
Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
,
Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
,
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
,
Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
,
North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
,
Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
,
Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
,
Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
,
Washington,
and
Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. WNU was also restricted from accepting students from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, or Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. As an example of a law that may restrict WNU degree use, the use of a degree in Nevada that is based upon more than 10 percent life experience is defined as use of a fake or misleading degree and is subject to a fine up to $5,000 or up to six months in jail or both. Note that it would require analysis on a case by case basis to evaluate whether or not the amount of life experience bestowed was greater than 10%. Many other states are also considering restrictions on the use of degrees from unaccredited institutions.
Better Business Bureau
Warren National became a member of the Mountain States Better Business BureauBetter Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau , founded in 1912, is a corporation consisting of several private business franchises of local BBB organizations based in the United States and Canada, which work through their parent corporation, the Council of Better Business Bureaus .The Better Business Bureau, through...
(BBB) in 1996 and formerly had a satisfactory record with the BBB, but on March 26, 2008, BBB's board of directors revoked WNU's accreditation
Accreditation
Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...
because WNU had not responded to complaints against it within the BBB's required timeframe.
Academics
Warren National University offered bachelor'sBachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
and master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
s in business administration, computer science, management information systems, and health administration, as well as a Doctor of Business Administration degree.
According to a 2004 article in the Laramie County Community College
Laramie County Community College
Laramie County Community College is a full-service community college in Laramie County, Wyoming, with campuses in Cheyenne and Laramie and outreach centers at F.E. Warren Air Force Base and in Pine Bluffs. LCCC was established in 1968....
student newspaper, in the KWU program in 2004 the average time for graduation was 2.4 years; the average student age was 42, with an average of eight years of work experience in their field of study.
At the 2005 Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, Warren National University faculty members gave a presentation on the method used to deliver academic courses
Coursework
Coursework is the name for work carried out by students at university or middle/high school that contributes towards their overall grade, but which is assessed separately from their final exams. Coursework can, for example, take the form of experimental work, or may involve research in the...
. Andree Swanson and Keren Meier-Emerich offered the following abstract
Abstract (summary)
An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a...
for their presentation.
"This is an example of one course, out of 500 courses offered, which demonstrates the delivery model used by Kennedy-Western University. Courses are designed using a modular formatModular designModular design, or "modularity in design" is an approach that subdivides a system into smaller parts that can be independently created and then used in different systems to drive multiple functionalities...
, which includes multiple self-assessmentSelf-assessmentIn social psychology, self-assessment is the process of looking at oneself in order to assess aspects that are important to one's identity. It is one of the motives that drive self-evaluation, along with self-verification and self-enhancement...
opportunities. Offered as open-entry, a student may be the only one taking the course at a given time or may be one of many enrolled at the same time. The model allows for anytime, any pace, and any place learningHistory of virtual learning environments 1990sIn the history of virtual learning environments, the 1990s was a time of growth, primarily due to the advent of the affordable computer and of the Internet.-1990:...
."
In the "Understanding New Media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
" book's section on virtual universities
Virtual university
A virtual university provides higher education programs through electronic media, typically the Internet. Some are bricks-and-mortar institutions that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while others solely offer online courses. They are regarded as a form of...
, author Kim Veltman mentions, "By leveraging the power of the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, Kennedy-Western has refined the academic
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
process and opened up countless opportunities to adult learner
Adult learner
Adult learner or mature learner is a term used to describe any person socially accepted as an adult who is in a learning process, whether it is formal education, informal learning, or corporate-sponsored learning.Adult learners are considered distinct from child learners due...
s. And they used Jones e-Global Library
Digital library
A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...
."
In a Chronicle of Higher Education article, Kennedy-Western faculty members stated students, "...often use the same textbooks and take exams as rigorous as those offered in professors' traditional
Traditional education
Traditional education or back-to-basics refers to long-established customs found in schools that society has traditionally deemed appropriate. Some forms of education reform promote the adoption of progressive education practices, a more holistic approach which focuses on individual students'...
classes."
Faculty
In 2007 a Warren National official told a reporter that the institution had between 135 and 150 faculty members. According to WNU spokesmen and the school's website, 80% of the academic faculty hold doctoral degrees from accredited institutions and the remainder hold master's degreeMaster's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
s from accredited institutions. In 2002 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
reported that WNU would not disclose the number of faculty, the method of compensation, the proportion of faculty that is full-time or the ownership of the institution. However, WNU stated that half of the faculty were full-time faculty members in other institutions, and the Chronicle determined that at least 22 WNU instructors were full-time faculty at other state and private academic institutions, primarily associate and assistant professors in business, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, or engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at state universities. According to the Chronicle, these part-time WNU faculty were paid on a piecework basis, reportedly receiving "$25 to grade a paper, a couple of hundred dollars to develop a course, and $40 an hour to answer students' questions." Some of these faculty were unwilling to talk openly about their work for WNU due to concern that their regular employers or their colleagues would disapprove of their work for an unaccredited institution "that many educators hold ... in low regard."
GAO investigation
"From July 2003 through February 2004", an investigation was conducted by the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
General Accounting Office
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
(GAO) to determine whether the federal government had paid for degrees from diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
s and other unaccredited postsecondary schools. Investigators determined that the federal government employed 463 individuals with degrees from unaccredited institutions including Kennedy-Western University. Senator Collins presented the GAO report to the Committee on Governmental Affairs
United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and...
, of which she was the Chair
Chair (official)
The chairman is the highest officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office is typically elected or appointed by the members of the group. The chairman presides over meetings of the assembled group and conducts its business in an...
and ranking Republican
Ranking member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the second-most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the majority party. Another usage refers to the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. This second usage, often...
.
Witness testimony was provided during the same hearing by Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Claudia Gelzer, who was assigned as a staff aide to the committee, testified that Kennedy Western gave her life experience credit towards a master's in environmental engineering. Kennedy Western waived 43% of the course credit required for the degree based only on her application and descriptions of prior coursework and military training. She testified that Kennedy Western didn't check any of her claimed work experience. With 16 hours of effort she was able to earn 40% of the total remaining coursework required for her master's. "As for my first-hand experience with Kennedy-Western courses and passing the tests, I found that basic familiarity with the textbook was all I needed. I was able to find exam answers without having read a single chapter of the text... As for what I learned, the answer is very little."
Kennedy-Western was not invited to testify before the Senate committee.
The university's Director of Corporate Communications
Corporate governance
Corporate governance is a number of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions which have impact on the way a company is controlled...
, Mr. David Gering, stated to The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
, "We clearly believe that we are not a diploma mill and have an academically rigorous program." Mr. Lewis M. Phelps, a spokesman
Spokesman
A spokesperson or spokesman or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and...
for Kennedy-Western University, said the online university was unfairly tarnished in the report. "The basic equation GAO seems to have come up with is 'no accreditation, no good,' " Phelps said. "We don't think that's valid."
Oregon lawsuit
In July 2004, Warren National University filed a lawsuitLawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
on behalf of three former students, challenging an Oregon law that made it illegal for résumé
Résumé
A résumé is a document used by individuals to present their background and skillsets. Résumés can be used for a variety of reasons but most often to secure new employment. A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education...
s used in connection with employment (including job applications
Application for employment
An application for employment, job application, or application form is a form or collection of forms that an individual seeking employment, called an applicant, must fill out as part of the process of informing an employer of the applicant's availability and desire to be employed, and persuading...
) in the state to list degrees from institutions that are not accredited or recognized by the state as legitimate. In the suit, WNU asserted that the Oregon law violated its graduates' constitutional rights. In December 2004, Warren National and Oregon reached an out-of-court settlement in the case. Under the terms of the settlement, Oregon agreed to revise its law, allowing graduates of unaccredited and unapproved schools to list an unaccredited degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
on a résumé as long as they note the school's unaccredited status in the résumé. The official required wording being, "does not have accreditation recognized by the United States Department of Education and has not been approved by the [Oregon] Office of Degree Authorization". The statutory revision was enacted in 2005. In the settlement, the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization
Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization
The Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization is a unit of the Oregon Student Assistance Commission with responsibilities related to maintaining high standards in private higher education institutions in Oregon...
(ODA) also agreed to refrain from referring to the school as a "diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
" and the state attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
's office agreed to provide ODA personnel with a training session on law related to defamation. However, Oregon still does not allow WNU degrees to be used for governmental employment or for professional licenses
Professional certification
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...
because the ODA determined that the institution does not meet standard academic requirements as specified by Oregon statute
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
ORS 348.609(1).
See also
- Diploma mills in the United StatesDiploma mills in the United StatesA diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
- Distance educationDistance educationDistance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
- Educational accreditationEducational accreditationEducational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
- Electronic learning
- List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning
- Virtual universityVirtual universityA virtual university provides higher education programs through electronic media, typically the Internet. Some are bricks-and-mortar institutions that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while others solely offer online courses. They are regarded as a form of...
External links
- Warren National University - official website
- Kennedy-Western University - official website at Archive.org
- Kennedy Western University Student Handbook 03v1
- Warren National University (Kennedy-Western) Chief Academic Officer talks with the Herald, March 3, 2009, Opinion - Commentary by Dave Featherly of the Cheyenne Herald regarding internal view of WNU while trying to become accredited
- Provides more from the K-WU financial statements, March 18, 2009, by Dave Featherly of the Cheyenne Herald
- Discussion on utility of WNU degrees, March 2, 2010, by Dave Featherly of the Cheyenne Herald
Government reports