Choosing Legitimate Online Diplomas
If you are considering getting your high school diploma online, I have some warnings for you. First, let me tell you that I have run into a lot of wrong information on the internet. Someone asks a question about diplomas online and gets an answer that they are all fake. That is not true at all. There are lots of fake schools, but there are also hundreds of legitimate online high schools.
One person asked if they should get a GED or an online high school diploma. The answer that popped up on top was that they should get a GED because online diplomas are not respected. This is also false. A diploma is more highly regarded than a GED. And the truth is that many online high schools have rigorous and challenging course work.
So, in short, I would say that you should weed out the fakes and diploma mills, and zero in on the real, legitimate online high schools. Do you know that if you get a job or promotion on the basis of a fake diploma or degree, you are committing fraud, and at the least can be sued to pay back any wages that you got because of that fraudulent diploma. That may be just the beginning of your troubles if the employer is really angry or well lawyered-up enough.
I have a daughter in an online high school right now. It is a tough school. In shopping for a school, I scanned dozens, maybe hundreds of websites. I requested mailed, and internet information from the ones I was interested in. There are just tons of fake, and tons of good legitimate high schools being advertised.
The good news is that it is not that hard to tell the difference. You cannot tell by looking for a fancy website. Anyone can put up a flashy website now. You must look below the surface. Your main question should be, “What are the requirements to get a diploma?”
What courses are required, if any? Diploma mills may try to cover up the fact that they require no coursework. Read a little more closely. If no coursework is required, you need to move on quickly, and scratch that one off your list. This is a tip off that you are looking at a fake school. Don’t be fooled by them asking you to take their qualification test, or to fill in “life experiences” instead of classes. There is no replacement for real courses. Also, the real GED is not given online, and their test is probably so easy a third grader could pass it. The school is fake.
In the hype website around fake high schools somewhere is usually a dollar amount that you will have to pay. It is a single payment. Just pay this $300. or whatever, and get your diploma. There may even be a picture of the beautiful diploma that you will receive. Well, you may have guessed that you will be paying $300 just for that piece of paper. You are being suckered.
Next take a close look at their accreditation. You can cross check their claims at the Department of Education. Fake schools, have fake accreditations. Legitimate schools, are strictly inspected by reputable agencies. Each region in the U.S. has an accreditation agency for that part of the country. There are also national agencies. These are not difficult to check.
I know that there are people who temporarily get ahead using false diplomas, and degrees. Those of us who spent out sweat and blood to get real diplomas, and degrees will not be sympathetic. What these scammers are doing is a crime. Our legal system is getting better and better at finding and punishing these criminals. Getting a fake diploma can backfire in your face.