This was poor Stacy, from Rand Education, calling to put me in touch with (likely very shady...) universities to further my education. Apparently, they got my number from an illegally-operating telemarketer, calling randomly in violation of the National Do-Not-Call Registry. I answered all of her questions, giving mostly completely bogus information and she said she would have 2 "universities" (I'd never heard of either...) contact me. Just before she hung up, I explained that she had been PUNKED because her employer was using NDNCR-violating aggregators to receive potential sales leads.I requested that the "recorded" (at least she said it was...) conversation be passed up the line to whoever made the decision to use the aggregators. I also requested that they review the strictures of the NDNCR. Kids, if we're gonna' stop this crap, we're gonna have to ENGAGE...
Followup: So far Central Penn online and ITT online have called and are apparently using Rand Education as aggregators to get potential recruits. I gave Allison from CP a bunch of bogus info and had her send me some info to a fictitious email address I supplied. With Robin from ITT, I wasted about 12 minutes of her time, then explained the Stacy/Rand Education illegal call, and requested that she pass our (recorded, according to her...) call up the line to whoever in their sales department decided to use Rand. It's kinda' a shame, as both ITT and Central Penn used to have pretty good reputations. Unfortunately, using Rand shows a desperation that can only mean they are having a hard time and are getting desperate - If you are thinking of furthering your education, I would definitely stay away from either of these schools...