A warning about an online high school with ties to Nogales that is offering diplomas based partly on life experience was issued by the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona.
Jefferson High School Online is an unaccredited institution operated by MMDS Ltd., which is based on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts but also has a physical address in Nogales, Sonora, and a post office box in Nogales, Ariz., according to a BBB news release.
The bureau said in the last two months its received three complaints, two of which have been unanswered, from people in Ohio, South Carolina and Texas who said they passed the school's online test and paid more than $200 to receive a high school diploma. When the students attempted to use that diploma to enroll in college, they were told it wasn't valid, the release said.
A BBB investigation found Jefferson's advertisements often appear as sponsored links on online search engines such as Google and Yahoo under the search phrase "high school diploma," the release said.
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People who go the school's Web site are prompted to take a free test to qualify for their diploma. The first part of the test includes questions about what type of music a student likes, how often they listen to music, how often they read and how physically active they are.
The Web site says those answers will count toward a student's "elective and life experience credits," the release said.
The school's Web site also includes a page describing its position on accreditation, saying that such a process is voluntary and not required to operate.
"Often smaller programs simply cannot afford the cost of such an ongoing review process," the site says, adding that "in an effort to keep program cost down and the current motivational-based format of JHSO," the school has not sought accreditation.
Consumers with questions about Jefferson High School Online can call the BBB at 888-5353 or go online to www.tucson.bbb.org
An e-mail sent by the Star to Jefferson High School Online was not immediately answered.
