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An Arizona woman pleads guilty to running an elaborate scam that highlights what federal authorities describe as the vulnerability of online education to financial-aid fraud. The scheme embroiled Rio Salado College, home to one of America's largest online programs, in a half-million-dollar con.

La Salle University, a religious degree-granting correspondence university, was shut down by the FBI for issuing falsely accredited degree in 1996. Due to the fraud, the students were notified personally or through advertisements that they could receive restitution from the over $ 10 million seized from La Salle. However, due to a bad computer system it is still possible that some students were left out.

Las fábricas de diplomas son universidades fantasmas que venden certificados académicos en lugar de proporcionar experiencia educativa. Cuando la Web GetEducated empezó a hacer un listado de los centros de formación a distancia en 1989, había menos de 50 centros abiertos al público. Hoy en día existen más de 750. GetEducated ha redactado una lista de 10 'señales de alarma' que ayuden a evitar adquirir un diploma universitario falso.

A report released by the department says a project called the Distance Education Demonstration Program has shown that waiving financial-aid restrictions on distance-education providers did not lead to any problems. The rules were designed to prevent fraudulent correspondence programs from gaining access to federal student-aid money. But the report leaves out details about one instance in which an institution closed down after it took advantage of a rule waiver and was then found to be riddled with fraud.

The U.S. Education Department last week proposed new rules that would loosen a ban on incentive compensation for college recruiters and get rid of a financial-aid regulation. The proposal to eliminate the 12-hour rule follows years of debate. Distance-education providers have pushed the department and Congress to throw out the regulation, but others have cited fears that relaxing the rule would lead to fraud.

A new distance-learning course being offered in Jordan aims to teach government officials and others how to stamp out corruption before it takes hold.