Attorney General Richard Ieyoub is asking a state court to stop a California diploma mill from enticing thousands of consumers nationwide to spend money for fake degrees. The problem is CSU is a fake. Even the so-called founder of the university pictured in the brochure isn't real. The consumer protection section of the Attorney General's office filed a preliminary injunction in Jefferson Parish against Ronald Pellar, owner and operator of Columbia State University, in order to prevent him from doing business until a court hearing can resolve the matter. General Ieyoub says CSU lures students from across the nation and globe, as far away as Norway and Malaysia, through advertising in home town weeklies, trade magazines and international papers.
Students can pay more money to obtain masters, doctorates and law degrees.
In order to get in to CSU, all you have to do is fill out a sheet of life experiences that transfers as earned credits toward an undergraduate or graduate degree. If I drove to Lake Charles and back, I'd be able to earn some kind of credit. Employers who have helped their employees obtain post-secondary education through CSU need to know that the degree isn't worth the money they paid for it. For all practical purposes, a person can go to the local library, read a book and write a thesis and print out their own degree. The building pictured on the brochure's cover is purported to be CSU's campus, but it is actually the Lyndhurst Estate in New York.