Today’s consumers are accustomed to obtaining the goods and services they need instantly. For the savvy shopper, price comparisons, specifications and warranties--as well as the items themselves--are just a short phone call or a mouse click away.

A growing number of these shoppers are now setting their sights on higher education. Many wish to obtain degrees and diplomas in the same way they acquire other goods and services--instantly, without necessarily having to learn much by way of new knowledge. Technology makes it possible. It opens the door for a new breed of "fast degree" educational institutions to deliver credentials of dubious quality to consumers who want them and are willing to pay the price.

While grade inflation has been a concern for decades, today’s technologically advanced education market introduces a new concern: "degree inflation." Degree inflation occurs when people are awarded degrees whether or not they have learned the content necessary to earn the right to hold them. If more degrees are awarded in this way, it could even result in education inflation--a society full of degreed but uneducated people.

Students come to our institutions seeking many things. Some want to earn certificates so they can enter a profession. Others want degrees to build their resumŽ. Some still come for an old-fashioned reason: to seek knowledge. The degree seekers, who tend to be employed already, are those who want to obtain (but not necessarily earn) their degrees in the shortest period of time with the least amount of effort. Fast-degree institutions cater to these students.

Fast food restaurants that serve burgers proudly proclaim that they can customize them to meet the tastes of their patrons. If customers so choose, they can get extra cheese on the burgers or forgo the onions.

Fast-degree institutions of higher education, in a similar vein, can mix and match courses, adding some and removing others from students’ required programs of study to please the student (who is also a customer) and to maintain his or her patronage. The proliferation of fast-degree institutions of higher education gives potential students enormous clout in their degree-seeking ambitions. Just like they shop around for food, including fast food, potential students can shop around for degrees that come at the lowest cost and require the least amount of time and effort. As with burgers or other commodities, the students expect the degrees to be served to them.

Tastes great, less filling

Fast food comes at a cost. Restaurants that seek economy and efficiency, but also cater to customer taste, often compromise the nutritional value of their offerings, which may not be very high to begin with. Similarly, the fast-degree education institutions risk watering down the quality of their degrees by removing courses here and there, or by offering credit for unevaluated life experiences. Degrees offered by these institutions of higher education may taste great to their students but are likely to be less filling.

Today’s degree seekers are willing to wait at least six months or more to obtain their degrees. They also will go through the motions of completing some coursework. As degree inflation takes hold, in a few years things could change. These students may become more aggressive and expect a diploma to be handed to them as soon as they pay for it. As with their hamburgers, the degree seekers will pay for the diploma at one drive-through window and expect the diploma to be ready by the time they pull up to the next. Or they may place an order for the diploma on the Web site of Click-ThruU.com and expect to print one out as soon as the credit card transaction is approved.