<p>@kayb92: I agree. Before that Immigration should not have granted them permission to issue I-20s. They should have stuck to only schools accredited by accredition organization. </p>
<p>@turbo93: The OPT or (Optional Practical training) which typically a foreign student could only apply to after at least one year of Full time study was eased and made vague by Immigration so that the issuance became at the discretion of the school.</p>
<p>I think the system did not catch up because the regulations were watered down by strong lobbyists. These students are not exactly poor from whereever they come from, paying $350/credit hour + other expenses at UNVA. There are about 4000+ schools offering degree programs. If immigration wanted, they could have issued a regulation stating that only schools in existence over 25 years accredited by independent boards providing accredition service for over 25 years be granted permission to issue I-20s. However, such a regulation would be pounced at by lobbyists and politicians as anti-business. The fact is lax regulations and conniving stakeholders caused this problem just like the mortgage meltdown and other such things that ail the American economy.</p>
By a ‘real’ accreditation organization that is - not a sham outfit like the one that’s run by the same people who run the particular ‘school’.</p>
<p>Since it takes a layperson about 5 minutes on the internet to determine that the particular ‘school’ is a sham it really points out just how incompetent or uninterested the US government appears to be on this issue. </p>
<p>The Wiki entry says that when UNVA’s accredition was pulled in 2008, Singapore stopped allowing students to go there. Why did it take the US Government 3 more years to act?</p>
<p>I love this quote from the Wiki entry:</p>
<p>"UNVA currently claims accreditation by the American University Accreditation Council, which is not a recognized accreditation agency in the United States. The accreditor lists its address as the same as the site of an car repair shop owned by the Chairman of the university, while the listed phone number has an answering machine recorded message saying “This is D’Angelo, so get at me back.”[</p>
<p>@ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad: I agree. If we had a strong accreditation board or two that govern and regulate the process it would have been great. But, then a whole lobby would come up and say govt. interference. When we have our junior senator from KY who could not get Board certified by the official board of ophthalmology, what does he do? He creates his own board and certifies himself and calls himself board certified. Same with these schools, when they can get accreditation by reputed organization they create their own boards. We should be blaming our own lax regulations, lobbyists and current political setup rather than students who may or may not have been a party to this. They all probably got suckered into paying thousands of dollars up front and in return got min wage jobs at the local pizza joints.</p>
<p>I am sure if the ICE raids other schools in the nation that help providing visas to foreign students they will find many cases similar to UNVA.
But the sticky point is who cares? I am sure that INS know that there are illegal immigrants on the streets but they do nothing or cannot do anything.</p>
<p>@coolweather, Most reputed schools care about their reputation. However, for a student sitting in interior China it is impossible to tell whether a school is legit or not, wiki or no wiki. Just like I wouldn’t know which is a reputed school and which is sham in Quinghai province of China, if I wanted to study there. Heck, I wouldn’t know what is a good school and what is sham school in Belgium. Wiki can be manipulated and edited by anyone and is a poor substitute for iron clad rules and regulations.</p>
<p>The students coming to this “U” knew it was a sham. It was a way to come to the states, get a visa, and look for work. It was not a diploma mill as much as it was a visa mill. I don’t think anyone was scammed except for the US of A.</p>
<p>@2Coll, the ‘first day OPT’ was at the heart of the issue at Tri-Valley (to the rest of our readers, there is no ‘first day OPT’ as 2Coll pointed out :-)). For UNVA, I do not know as I have not followed the case.</p>
<p>OPT has been handled in a different number of ways since my days in F-1 OPT a million years ago. Back then the “School Immigration Advisor” had the stamp to authorize OPT. Then one had to go to the INS Service Center and get it stamped, then they had to mail everything in, and so on. </p>
<p>It is ironic that the focus seems to be on the illegal side of the system while the ‘quasi-legal’ side of the system - numbering many times more - remains unchallenged (i.e. getting H-1’s with credentials that are either grossly inflated, outright made up, and the like).</p>
<p>@sunnyflorida: If you think US or A was scammed then don’t you think its representatives should have put stricter rules and regulations. It is relatively easy to tell around 4000 or so schools whether they meet the requirements to enroll a foreign student that let random people with money to pay tuition but no academic standing come in as students. Since, its all about money, regulations are watered down. So, can’t quite figure out how US of A was scammed. In fact, UNVA and similar schools got all this tuition fee as revenue (at the rate of $350/credit hour). It probably sustained a lot of staff and faculty. It paid for some lobbying in Congress. It helped sustain some neighborhood business like apartments, grocery stores, restaurants and other such things. I think the students and their parents were the one who were ultimately screwed whether they knew it or not. For a prospective student sitting thousands of miles away it is very difficult to discern between University of Virginia and University of Northern Virginia. In fact, they may have applied to both but probably turned down by University of Virginia.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right. On paper there is no first day OPT. However, while years ago Immigration used to monitor when a student became eligible for OPT now, it is left to the discretion of the school. As you said after the school’s immigration advisor signed it, Immigration had to approve it. It is not the case now. Schools have total control over the process now.</p>
<p>I feel bad if any students and their families were duped into thinking this “university” was legitimate. </p>
<p>As an international, I know this is a great concern for many families here. The first question people ask me when I reccomend universities (since I also do some SAT tutoring and help people pick where to apply) is “But, is it a good school?” Many people are on their toes about this because they DON’T want to end up at a place like those we’ve mentioned on this thread.</p>
<p>I fully agree with you. Most students and parents sitting in a different country have no clue which is a legit school and which is sham. Since, most countries have different ways to assess the legitimacy most don’t even know what an accreditation board is or what a legitimate accredition board. Heck, many don’t even know what a state school vs private vs a community college is. Most have only heard of the Ivys and that too because of the branding power not that they know anything about them.</p>
<p>Exactly. I know of at least one kid who was COMPLETELY underqualified who applied to Harvard because it was the only school he was interested in. More like, it was the only school he had ever heard about!</p>
<p>You have to understand a bit how the foreign-born CC school selection process works - legit and illegit… At the legit side a lot of it is ‘follow the leader’ where one or two adventurers would apply to some seemingly random school, get in, then a bunch of people from the same area / school would form a ‘cluster’. Then, once the adventurers hit the road for employment, you could see the same cluster replicate at the workplace (back then when companies were actually hiring :-)). Back in my days there were even agencies (and I mean that in a polite way) that would ‘help’ foreign students with the application process… </p>
<p>At the not-so-legit level, I would say some people know it’s a scam, some don’t, some want a couple years work in the US and go back, and some go for the Hail Mary of green card. Remember that opinions formed back home are strongly influenced by what the returnees say; nobody ever tells the truth, everybody mindlessly converts dollars to the local currency, and that’s all there is.</p>
<p>By a ‘real’ accreditation organization that is - not a sham outfit like the one that’s run by the same people who run the particular ‘school’."</p>
<p>It was good enough for Rand Paul’s optometry accreditation.</p>
<p>In India (where I am now), there are entire public school classes where the teachers never show up (but then set themselves up as private tutors during school hours). There are also educational “hostels” where headmasters collect funds for sham students (my cousin, who is assistant director for Tamil education in secondary schools, told me about one she visited just this morning.) </p>
<p>Those who want good schools know how to find them. In India, it is quite cutthroat, with universities like IIT being far more difficult to get into than Harvard, and neither money nor family connections nor unusual ECs are going to help.</p>
<p>@mini, Offtopic Rand Paul is an Opthalmologist not Optometrist. Huge difference if you are in medicine. Every physician once out of residency/fellowship is board eligible but have to go through go through another exam from an official board to call themselves board certified. Rand Paul flunked it and could not become board certified. So he created his own board and certified himself. My point is if we have lawmakers who go through these shenanigans then no wonder there are sham schools like UNVA and sham accreditation boards.</p>
<p>Thanks. (I knew of my error after I posted it, but didn’t have the chance to go back to change it.) Luckily, he’s a Senator, and maybe not messing with people’s eyes.</p>
<p>He had a full practice until he became senator certified by a fake board. It is my understanding, he still does see patients on a part time basis.</p>
<p>Until a few weeks ago, I lived in Annandale. I drove on Little River Turnpike probably four or five days a week through that area. Definitely no college there unlike the very noticeable and legitimate NOVA campus closer to my house or George Mason University a bit further down in Fairfax.</p>