Quick-Fix Diplomas Often Aren’t Real GEDs

By Keegan Kyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Aug. 1–PUBLIC INVESTIGATOR: TAKING TIPS, CHASING LEADS, SOLVING PROBLEMS

In a city like Milwaukee where hundreds of high school students drop out every year, there’s a market for businesses to offer quick-fix diplomas.

That’s why Midwest Adult Academy set up shop at 6114 W. Capitol Drive and started selling high school equivalency tests for $150. Just take home a few tests, return them with a passing score, and congratulations!

Shariamor Green saw the shop’s “Get your diploma in 30 days” sign and decided to check it out. She paid the fee and received her certificate in one month. She was later denied admission to Milwaukee Area Technical College because the diploma was deemed invalid.

“I was really, really disappointed,” said Green, 26.

Education officials say the practice is deceiving because students might think they are getting a more widely accepted diploma.

“It’s feeding on people who are struggling and don’t have the time and money to do the research to see what really is a GED,” said Gay Donahue, who works at a neighborhood learning center in Milwaukee with low-income adults.

“GED” is the acronym used for the General Education Development test administered and regulated by the American Council on Education. Its testing method and diploma are accepted by most post-secondary schools.

At issue with Midwest Adult Academy is whether the diplomas are a credible evaluation of a person’s education. That differs from a Spokane, Wash., company that issued about 10,000 counterfeit diplomas nationwide. A database posted online Wednesday by a Spokane newspaper listed 29 Wisconsin residents as buyers of the fake high school and college diplomas — including one worker at the Kewaunee nuclear power plant.

Schools such as Midwest Adult Academy offer high school diplomas that aren’t GEDs, which might confuse students, Donahue said.

Midwest says it’s doing nothing wrong.

The school tells every patron — 4,000 graduates in the past three years — that its diploma is not accepted everywhere and is not an official GED, said CEO Elaine Spencer.

But letters and fliers given out to prospective students don’t say the diploma is not a GED. The “frequently asked questions” section of the school’s Web site, however, says the school “does not offer a GED.”

Green said she knew her diploma might be denied by MATC, but she decided it was worth a try. The college once accepted students from Midwest Adult Academy, but the admissions department decided to take a stand against correspondence schools, which teach students through impersonal methods like mail or the Internet.

The curriculum at Midwest Adult Academy requires no books and gives students four tests and a 200-word essay to complete at home. For comparison, the first seven paragraphs of this article contain 203 words.

Besides the $150 non-refundable enrollment fee, graduates of Midwest Adult Academy may also pay an extra $150 to participate in a once-a-year graduation ceremony.

Bob Bullock, MATC director of enrollment services, said the college doesn’t recognize diplomas from correspondence schools because there is little oversight to keep students from cheating on the tests at home.

“We just decided an ‘on your honor’ system isn’t good enough for us,” Bullock said.

He estimated 1% or 2% of admission rejections happen because applicants try using diplomas from unrecognized correspondence schools.

But there is some hope for those denied admission to MATC because their diploma was deemed invalid. Bullock said he may waive a student’s fees to take the national GED test administered by MATC. If applicants believe they have the knowledge of a high school graduate, let them prove it, Bullock said.

The GED administered by MATC costs $65 — much cheaper than Midwest Adult Academy — but passing the five tests might take a couple of months, depending on a student’s scheduling conflicts.

The program at Midwest Adult Academy is made for people with tight schedules, said Spencer, the school’s CEO. The program is also working on an expanded curriculum that would qualify it for the Commission on International and Trans-regional Accreditation, Spencer added.

“Our experience is that there are still plenty of schools that will accept our accreditation,” Spencer said.

Most of the schools listed by Midwest Adult Academy are professional-based private schools such as Bryant & Stratton College or Cardinal Stritch University.

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