Janet Killen invested $5,500 and four years of her life getting what she thought was a master's degree in nursing education from a Caldwell online college.

When she presented her degree in 2007 to Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., where she teaches nursing, she was dumbfounded when administrators told her it was worthless in her state.

Moreover, Oregon state officials told her she must stop touting the diploma she received from Canyon College or she could face civil and criminal penalties for using an invalid degree. She has to notify a hospital where she works that her degree is not recognized in Oregon.

"I felt really violated," Killen said. "I have two associate degrees, a bachelor's degree and an illegal master's degree. Do you love it?"

How can something like this happen?

The Idaho State Board of Education, which oversees for-profit colleges like Canyon, hasn't had the staff to enforce state rules that require schools like Canyon to be registered with the state before handing out diplomas.

But Mike Rush, Ed Board executive director, says he will seek an injunction against Canyon College if it doesn't comply with Idaho law.

Oregon won't accept degrees from Canyon College because the school is not registered in Idaho and is not accredited by federally recognized agencies, said Alan Contreras, administrator of the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization.

Registration helps the state be aware of what programs are available in Idaho. Accreditation gives an assurance that the program meets some minimal standards for quality, state officials say.

"Degrees issued by Canyon College have the same validity as degrees issued by Les Schwab Tires or a neighborhood grocery: zero," Contreras wrote to Canyon College's legal counsel.

Idaho state officials also put distance between themselves and Canyon College.

"Their credits will not transfer into any state-supported college inside Idaho," Harv Lyter, Idaho proprietary schools coordinator, wrote to Contreras in an e-mail recently. "Idaho does not consider Canyon College credits or diplomas valid."

Michael F. Storrs, who was listed as Canyon College president when the school filed business papers with the Idaho Secretary of State's office in 1998, could not be reached for comment. John Denmark, also an owner of the school, declined to speak with the Statesman.

In a letter to Contreras, Canyon College's attorney, Brad Miller, defended the school.

Canyon "takes great pride in offering educational opportunities that would not otherwise be available to a number of individuals at an affordable price," he wrote.

A computer search found no lawsuits against Canyon College in Idaho's 4th Judicial District or any complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau.

But Idaho and the school disagree on how much oversight the state should have.

On July 2, Lyter wrote Denmark, saying the school must register with the state by July 31, according to letters the Statesman obtained in a public records request from the State Board of Education.

Miller responded by saying the school offers no degrees from locations in Idaho so it is not subject to registration.

But a law revised in Idaho in 2006 says "if you operated from or purported to operate from a location in Idaho, you are an Idaho school," Lyter said.

In recent days, on some pages of its Web site but not all of them, Canyon College changed its mailing address to a suburb outside of Sacramento, Calif. The phone and fax numbers still have Idaho area codes.

IDAHO A 'SORRY SISTER' ON COLLEGE OVERSIGHT

Canyon College, which is 10 years old, has an enrollment of about 4,000 students, college officials say. Online courses are offered in a variety of fields including theology, Chicano and Middle Eastern studies, criminology and nursing, according to the school's Web site. The school has had an office at 111 Poplar St. in Caldwell.

But despite the official concerns with the school, Idaho has done little to compel the college to meet state requirements followed by other private schools such as George Fox University, Stevens Henager College and Apollo College.

Idaho hasn't had anyone to focus on for-profit school oversight until Lyter, a former inspector general at Mountain Home Air Force base, was hired a month ago.

"We've had nobody minding the store," Rush said.

Until Idaho beefs up its regulation of proprietary schools, Contreras will classify the state as one of the "Seven Sorry Sisters, the states with the worst regulation of private colleges." The others are: Hawaii, California, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Colorado, although Alabama has recently toughened its enforcement against such schools.

CANYON IS ON A LOT OF STATES' WATCH LISTS

Oregon isn't the only state with concerns about Canyon College. Washington's office of degree authorization wrote Canyon College officials in July, reminding them that academic credentials from the school are valueless in the state and can't be used to help get employment or a license to practice a trade.

Michael Ball, Washington's degree authorization associate director, said the letter was a "shot across the bow" to Canyon College. Don't "think of coming to Washington," he said.

And the Pennsylvania Department of Education notified its school district officials that Canyon College is "not authorized to operate in Pennsylvania" after a group of teachers in a district 60 miles north of Pittsburgh sought reimbursement for attending classes through Canyon College. The classes could cost taxpayers in the West Middlesex School District between $20,000 and $40,000.

"Taxpayers are putting out taxpayer money and not getting the quality of education expected of an accredited agency," said Tom Hubert, school board president. "Idaho needs to step up to the plate. They are ... allowing them to do this. I would hope officials in Idaho could see that and help us out."

CANYON COLLEGE IS NOT UNIQUE, THOUGH

While Canyon has attracted some of the focus of Lyter's office, Lyter also had to pay attention briefly to Breyer State University, a school that made a short stop in Idaho this summer.

Breyer State University, which was in Idaho during the early part of the decade, returned here in late June, according to Idaho Secretary of State business records. The online school moved operations back after it lost its license to operate in Alabama amid a crackdown on what education officials called "diploma mills."

"One of the ... institution's many violations included conferring honorary doctorates on individuals based on life and work experience, a one-time application fee and a monetary contribution to the institution," said a press release issued by Alabama's Department of Post Secondary Education.

On July 2, Lyter told Breyer officials they must register with the State Board under Idaho law.

Late last month, Breyer State changed its address and phone number on its Web site from Boise to Los Angeles.

John Moran, Breyer State's marketing director and dean of students, declined to comment.

The school is appealing the loss of its license in Alabama.

STILL LOOKING FOR A DEGREE

Back in Oregon, Killen, the nursing instructor whose degree was rejected, maintains she got a good education at Canyon College. Killen took about a dozen classes, and she said many seemed in line with those she would have gotten elsewhere but would have cost as much as $600 per credit hour.

Canyon charges $500 per master's course and $435 per bachelor's course, according to the school's Web site.

But Killen is also upset that Canyon College administrators never explained that her degree would not be recognized in Oregon when she started taking classes, she said.

"They should have informed me," Killen said. "I knew nothing."

Contreras, the Oregon degree authorization administrator, wrote Canyon College officials demanding a refund for Killen and reminding school officials that they had agreed in 2000 to notify any Oregon resident that Canyon degrees are not valid in that state.

"We are disappointed that Canyon College continues to take money from Oregon residents," Contreras wrote on July 3. "(T)his kind of crude plunder really needs to stop."

On Friday, Canyon College officials agreed to a refund, but did not mention Killen by name in the letter or the amount it would give back.

Miller wrote that the school agreed to the refund in part because Killen was threatened "with criminal prosecution if she listed having a degree from Canyon College on her resume." Canyon officials also offered to quit accepting Oregon residents if the state would drop whatever issues it has with the college.

Contreras declined.

"The laws of Washington, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Texas, Maine, New Jersey and Virginia disallow the use of degrees from Canyon College," Contreras wrote. "For Canyon simply to cease offering its products to Oregon residents would serve little purpose unless it also agreed to cease offering them to residents of the other states."

As for Killen, she's back on the Internet, looking for another place to get a master's.

"I want a degree," she said.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408