About Me

My name is Jack Mize, the "Degree Wiz", and I am an average guy with average intelligence, and certainly no great gift for learning. I received my first F in the fifth grade and it went downhill from there. In junior high I never went a year without having to make up something or other in summer school. My high school years were a disaster. I actually failed freshman Health class four times! I never stepped foot in a high school algebra or pre-algebra class. They put me in something called “Consumer Math”. I guess they figured they should at least show me how to make change so I could get some sort of job. It got to the point that I didn’t even know what grade I was in and frankly didn’t care. I finally gave up and did at least one smart thing — got my GED.

A few years later, after numerous manual labor jobs, I decided I better get some higher education. Through the generosity of my parents, I began attending a community college. I took the usual first year classes: English, Intro to Business and Psychology, typical Humanities, Science, and Social Studies survey courses. I even attempted a prep Algebra class, but dropped it before I got an F. I didn’t do too bad — a couple of As, a few Bs, and a C or two. But after a year I realized that I could not go through, at minimum, three more years of it. So, I quit with 29 credits to my name. I figured at least I could put some college on my employment applications.

Luckily I stumbled into a decent career in the computer support field. Between my wife and I (who had never finished college) we were doing fine financially, but there was always that little voice “You need to finish your degree”. Why? I was doing ok, but I always felt uncomfortable around my peers, who almost all had a degree or were diligently attending night school. It was also a matter of self esteem and personal fulfillment. I knew there was no way I was going to night school. I worked a lot of hours and my wife was expecting our first child at any moment. I searched for alternatives and to my delight there were many opportunities to get a degree without attending class. Or so I thought. A few searches on the Internet and there were schools with very scholarly names that were willing to grant me a degree for my life experience - and a few thousand dollars. Some only wanted a resume, another just wanted me to turn in one book report. More than a few would simply take my word for it. Luckily I was smart enough to know that when something sounds too good to be true it probably is. These types of schools are referred to as “Degree Mills.” As tempting as it was to get that diploma to frame and hang on the wall, minimal research showed me that these were frauds and I would be one too if I went that route.

I knew there had to be a way to get my degree without attending classes. I looked into the local colleges and they offered correspondence courses but there was no way to earn all of the credits I needed in this manner. One day I was reading a national news paper and saw and ad that read “Accredited College Degree without Attending Class”. I called immediately. This was great. They said they were accredited by the National Educational something or another and they actually required me to do work and take exams. I was still skeptical so I decided to research accreditation and what a puzzle that turned out be. There are many different accrediting bodies. Some are legit, most are not. I say this because most Degree Mills that make up a school name certainly have no problem making up an accrediting organization. A bigger obstacle is that there are some schools out there which are state approved, or trying to provide a useful product, but just don’t meet the standards that I required. I wanted a fully accredited degree that could be accepted in employment and future graduate studies. I was finally able to weed my way through the accrediting jungle and determine exactly what to look for and avoid unaccredited programs. This whole process went on for about a year. Continued. . .

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