Let's say you found a service that manufactures a fake degree and a fake transcript, but they also somehow hack into the college of your choice's database and put in that information. Therefore, any inquiries about you (by employers, etc.) will be confirmed and your transcript and degree will be considered legitimate by the inquirers.

What is the maximum amount you would pay for such a service?

You kidding? I wouldn't pay a penny. School is fun!!

What if you can't get in?

Int, why is this in billboard? Are you offering the service?

Nothing is foolproof. You'd probably get caught eventually. It's not worth any amount of money.

I know someone that does this or used to do it. they did everything driving licenses passports etc.

I wouldn't do it because for most jobs you actually need the knowledge.

Nah, you'd be amazed at how easy it is to get away with alot of things. For an unlimited amount of time.

Tell that to all the people in jail.

I'm sure that for the same amount of money, you can get a degree that's actually worth something....

Letters aren't worth much.

Your numbers are too low. If people are willing to pay $80 - 150,000 for a (private) college degree for which they have to work hard, don't you think they'd pay more for a degree that requires no effort at all?

Yeah, but you have to work.

Look at it this way....gotta learn to work at some point. When you get a job, you'll have to work hard too, so this way you can practice and it'll pay off.
Win the lottery or kill off an old rich uncle if you want to live a luxurious lifestyle with no work at all

The value of going to school is knowing more. Having a piece of paper to prove that afterwards is just a nice add on in my opinion.

Maybe if I could get a 100% money back insured guarantee that we would never get caught and the degree would be comporable to a real one I would pay those kinds of prices. But it is a gamble on many levels so my willingness to spend so much would be significantly less.

Also stolen goods are always cheaper than the real thing. It just seems wrong to pay market value for fradulent or stolen merchandise. Why should the seller profit so much???

i wouldn't. if i didn't deserve it, i'd feel like a fake.

Oh the curiosities of the human psyche How unpragmatic we are.

There are expenses involved in doing it the real way. Far more than just getting the paper and hacking into the schools computer can possibly cost. A PA that I shadowed told me that his PA friend was contacted by a school right after his graduation saying that for $10,000 they would say he went to their school and provide all documentation so he could sit for the boards. He had enough knowledge to be able to pass and become a practicing MD but he didn't take it and a few years later one of the people doing it got mad at the other, outed him, and all the bogus degrees were caught. Not sure what happened to them, but apparantly the ones at Touro landed some time in jail. When you get into this iffy business of people willing to act this way I'd be scared to trust them down the line. They can blackmail you for more money and out you if you don't give in. Just go the long way and get the necessary education.

I suppose it all depends on whether or not one actually VALUES a college education, or sees it as a pointless but sometimes necessary evil in order to be hired and receive a decent living wage...

Someone like me in the latter category would have no qualms about faking a degree, especially if it is not information I actually NEED for my job (read most of what was learned in college).

You're right if a job requires a degree of higher education for the sake of having educated people, for for letting the colleges screen out the dummies, you can probably get away with it. However, no matter how smart you are, you can't be a doctor without going to med school.

True, but I might be able to go to med school, and CERTAINLY law or business school without attending undergrad....

And I am not talking about specialized technical fields, like engineering, advanced computer science, or nuclear physics. I am talking anything liberal arts....

No way could you go to med school without undergrad. You would do really poorly on your MCATs which they look at more than your transcripts.

You can take those classes or teach it to yourself. It's not that big a deal.

Yeah, I'm sure I can find the time in the 4 years I have just saved to thoroughly prepare myself for Mcats or anything else I need to get it to grad school.....

That's not true. Most of the doctors I know are just basically "routing switches" or "directories".

They look at some symptoms, and direct you to a drug by writing a prescription for it. Almost anyone can do that, by googling enough information about a certain disease. In fact, because current doctors can't usually spend any decent amount of time with their patients (more than 5 minutes) because of overcrowding, greed, lack of care, etc., the best person to actually help and find out how to cure a disease is the patient himself! By doing his own research. The doctor is then just someone who will physically write the prescription for him.

Pretty much the only doctors who have any real added value are surgeons - because that's a real skill, not just knowledge you can pick up (easily anyway) by googling.

That's actually a very hot topic these days in the medical profession - the place of what's called evidence based medicine in diagnostics and treatment.

Not a doctor, but you could certainly be a nurse practitioner.

An NP can pretend to be an MD and maybe even get away with taking the boards more so than your average shmo, but I don't think someone with no education can pretend to be an NP.

You'd be surprised. Most people that go to see the doctor have fairly ordinary symptoms. Take two of these and call me in the morning would suffice.

Of course you couldn't get away with being a cardiologist or a neurosurgeon, but a GP or pediatric doctor? Totally doable.

Too true. I've picked up a lot working in a pediatric office. However, a serious illness or problem may go undetected by someone who has no background.Not that big of a deal? Okay, go ahead and try. Anyone who is willing to take the classes or teach themselves may as well sit the full Bachelor's degree.

There are better ways to cut corners with your education and still do it right. With careful planning, college can take less than 3 years; maybe even 2.

The education itself is not worth much.

The two biggest values come from

1) knowing and networking with the other people who went IVY
2) Having the stamp of approval on your forehead that you are smart enough to have gone IVY

Ethics aside, an ivy league degree will be worth more than $50,000 over the course of your career, assuming you're not an idiot and can function in a role without revealing that you're an idiot.

If you are smart and can function well in a job, then having the stamp on your forehead is worth the money.

Again, ethics (of lying) aside.

3) Proving to the world that you're wealthy enough for IVY

Misconception. The ivy league schools are the most generous when it comes to financial aid. If you are dirt poor, you'd have an easier time paying for Harvard than you would paying for Brooklyn College.

Agreed. I (well my family) wasn't dirt poor, and yet I still was only 20,000 in debt (for 4 years!) when I was done with college (ivy league).