What do you think of the FREE online college degree?

[Merlin]

Jennifer, are you saying a degree from U of P would be okay for someone just looking for a checkbox degree? Can a person get into graduate school in history with it?
AP, 
PrettyFlyforaChiGuy, let me see if I understand. 76 hours from 25 CLEP, DSST, and TECEP (do they take all of these?) exams would cost $2,500. 45 hours from 15 courses would cost $255. Would this hypothetical $2,755 degree actually be worth anything?

Do we need a new term here, degree laundering? Get a nationally accredited bachelor's degree to get into a regionally accredited master's degree program. It seems like a regionally accredited master's degree would render the national accreditation of the bachelor's degree moot, if this would even work.

Technically you can get those CLEP exams for free through modern states, so the price would be lower than that.

While there are a few RA masters programs that will accept NA degrees, there aren't many. However, I don't see it as degree laundering since both are legitimate degrees, just from different accrediting bodies.

Besides, the difference between NA and RA schools isn't necessarily a matter of academic rigor, though that appears to be most people's assumption.

Most people have no idea about what accreditation means or what kind their school has as long as it is accredited. So for many people, they won't even realize there is a difference unless it is pointed out to them after the fact. Such as when they apply to an RA grad program with an NA bachelor's degree and are turned down. Though going the other way is rarely a problem.

Then again, there are many people who don't need an RA grad degree, they just need a grad degree because it will get them a promotion at work or something. Unless someone is going into academia, or there are other extenuating circumstances, an NA degree may be just fine.

I find it annoying that there are two systems to begin with. All it does is make education that much more of a pain for people to figure out.