Answered by Bob S
I've just done some research on Capella too and here's what I found out. 1. Yes, Capella's instructor, Diane Stottlemyer, did buy degrees from a diploma mill called Lacrosse University. Diane Stottlemyer lists her fake degrees in the book, Debugging ASP.net ( safari.oreilly.com/0735711410/pref02 ). The Government Accounting Office issued a report to Congress about diploma mills, including the diploma mill that Stottlemyer bought her degrees from - www.gao.gov/new.items/d04771t.pdf I also found a thread about her on degree board - forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?threadid=3571&highlight=stottlemyer 2. Diane Stottlemyer also still works for Capella University; she's listed in their current catalog (www.capella.edu/catalog ). Why any university would keep an instructor who had bought fake degrees certainly raises a lot of questions about ethics. 3. NPR didn't post an article about the plagiarism case; they just posted one about Capella's sales tactics ( minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/06/12/capella_is_rising__and_profitable__star_in_online_learning ). The article quotes one of Capella's former salesmen as saying "But pressures to make a profit troubled one former Capella employee. Christopher Tassava found the company pressured employees to keep the students paying. Capella admits nearly everyone who applies. Tassava, now working at Carleton College, often worried Capella's customers didn't fully understand what they were getting into financially. "With Capella the impetus is always to keep the student making progress," Tassava said. "Often there wasn't a lot of progress discernible. Making progress often reduced to 'are you paying tuition or not? Are you taking out student loans?'" The Pioneer Press is the paper that posted the story about the student suing a Capella University instructor, Sharon Bender. I would think that it is extremely rare for a student to actually sue an instructor. The fact that Bender works for Capella is also very disturbing. 4. An audit by the Office of the Inspector General is a very serious matter. Another for-profit school, the University of Phoenix, was recently fined $9 million dollars by the US Department of Education. Capella could be in very serious trouble. 5. It's hard to tell how many lawsuits Capella is involved in right now. There seem to be several. While the Sharon Bender plagiarism case doesn't include Capella (at least it doesn't appear that way), Capella University must certainly be involved in that case as Bender was one of their employees and was the instructor for the student suing her. 6. According the NPR article, it looks like Capella does accept just about everyone that applies. 7. It's hard to say what's going on with Capella University's attempts to get accredited by the APA. They've been trying for a very long time and can't seem to get it. There seem to be too many problems with ethics concerning for-profit Capella University. They have at least one professor they've kept on despite that fact that she did buy degrees from a diploma mill, another one is being sued for plagiarizing a student's work, the NRP article notes the emphasis on bringing in money as the primary concern. I certainly wouldn't depend on what on of their salesmen tell you. I would consider going to a non-profit state school instead. That would also be a more cost effective way to get a reputable degree.