Beware of fake universities
Oct 2011: Last week, U.S police closed a California university called “Tri-Valley University” that made millions dollars by offering visas to foreign students to enter the U.S. Since 2008, Tri-Valley University has offered online courses for students, mostly in India to get a U.S degrees without leaving India. Lately, it also opened a school in northern California and issued admissions to foreign students to enter the U.S to study. The federal government says the university is a fraud because it is not accredited, most of their faculties are not qualified, many using fake degrees to teach with the sole purpose to facilitate foreigners in illegally acquiring student status that authorizes them to enter the United States.
The university owner denied the charge. She said the university did nothing illegal as they never force anyone to attend their school. All students applied and paid a lot of money to come to study at the school voluntarily. Police also found that the school has several millions of dollars in their bank account under the owner's name. As police shut down the school, thousands of the university’s students are facing deportation. According to government, all of the student visas the school issued are invalid. The government is reviewing the case and it is possible that all students will have to leave the country immediately. The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that the owner of Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton used the school to help foreigners illegally obtain visas that allow them to stay in the U.S. Currently, most of the 1,555 students enrolled at the school are from India.
Kalpana Peddibhotla a student complained: “Why wasn’t anybody in government aware of the school and why wasn’t anybody there to investigate before they take our money. How do we know if the school is legitimate or not. They advertised all over India, in newspapers, magazines, billboards and on the internet promising us a future. How that could be possible?"
Another student told the local newspaper: “It is very bad, I think my life could be better but now my future is in the gutter. My family paid a lot of money for my education I do not understand why the government allow university like this to operate for years and took a lot of money from poor people like us? The police said that it is not that simple because it took them many months and years to investigate and build the case of fraudulent.
After the story went on the news and TV, several graduates from Tri Valley who are currently working for U.S companies were fired immediately for using fake degrees to obtain employment. U.S companies in India were also alerted about Indian workers who claimed to have degree from this university. A company manager told Indian newspapers: “We will have to do a thorough review, when we hire them they claimed to have degrees from U.S university but if it turn out to be fake degrees then we have to take action.”
Indian officials have complained to the U.S government that some students are being forced to wear ankle monitors to track their movements while immigration authorities investigate their status. The Embassy of India says it wants the U.S. government to "ensure that Indian students are not subjected to any kind of discrimination or victimization."
According to the newspaper investigation, there are several phony universities operating in the U.S aimed at foreign students by issue phony degrees on line. As long as they use these degrees in their country or somewhere then it is not a U.S concern. However, if they use the fake degree to obtain employment in the U.S then it will be a fraudulent case. Students who enter the U.S via phony university admission are usually deported immediately. Last year, thousands of Chinese students were deported back to China when they came to a phony university in Oregon that were also shutdown by police. The owner who has operated several phony universities previously were arrested with hundred million dollars in his house.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
