In today's society, college is seen as a necessary step in life if one wishes to become successful. For many, the application and acceptance process is a long and tedious challenge. This is where the issue of diploma mills arises. For those who wish to bypass the long and rigorous admissions process required for many prestigious colleges but want the benefits of completing postsecondary education, the prospect of diploma mills offers great relief. According to the U.S. Department of Education, a diploma mill is an entity that requires little to no coursework/education in the field as well as requiring a fee in exchange for the diploma/certificate the purchaser requested. As time goes by, the diploma mill problem worsens due to the lack of public awareness, along with federal and state legislation.
The history of diploma fraudulence dates back much further than many would think. The first time a degree was officially awarded in Europe was during the eleventh century at the University of Bologna -- Awarding diplomas was a practice that would soon be followed by other countries. With this in mind, Ezell and Bear note that it would be within reason to assume that the practice of forging these awarded certificates would quickly follow suit and Robert H. Reid supports this logic by stating that the first incident of a documented case of a fraudulent degree being allocated was reported from Colonial Academy in 1797. (qtd. in Bear and Ezell).
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Barbara Tuchman, as mentioned in Bear and Ezell’s book, sees a possibility for an explosive business in trafficking fake diplomas in the fourteenth century due to the worth they held.
Other examples of fake colleges include those well-known ones in the 1880s: American University in Philadelphia, Livingston University of America, and Western University -- in Illinois. This list of large diploma mills would only continue to grow as time progressed without adequate action being taken. One German scholar declared that the 1930’s for degree mills as the depression led to many people to look towards cheaper alternatives. (qtd. in Bear and Ezell). From this period, the issue of diploma mills was accelerated at an alarming rate leading to the federal government's first and only intervention.
In the 1970s Allen Ezell began a Unit within the FBI called DipScam. Dipscam was tasked to bring down and debunk as many diploma mills as possible. Throughout its career, DipScam took down forty-degree mills (Bear and Ezell). Its first large case was one involving a man named Dr. Alfred Jarrette, an owner of a diploma mill called Southeastern University. Dr. Jarrette operated by selling fake diplomas out of his house in South Carolina. After discovering this scam, Ezell and his team set up a trap for Dr. Jarrette and proceeded to discover that he had sold over 620 fake degrees; some of which were sold to federal, state, and county workers (Bear and Ezell). And as he and his team would soon discover, this was only the surface of what he would soon recognize as one of the most lucrative businesses operating in America.
Some may say that the issue of diploma mills is not a large one and that it is not worth debating over. This is not the case. In 2011, the revenue coming from diploma mills was estimated at 300 million dollars (Motherboard Neifer). While the revenue being made from this industry is shooking in and of itself, one of the major concerns with diploma mills is the number of underqualified people receiving PhDs. For example from 1998 to 2003 the University Degree Program made 453,000,000 dollars selling degrees in Anesthesiology, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, obstetrics, oncology, ophthalmology, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, surgery, and urology (Freakonomics Dubner). While the areas of study that people are receiving their fake diploma mills are concerning enough, the sheer number of these fake doctorates being bought each year is even worse. The number of legally earned PhDs in America is 40,000-45,000 each year and compared to this the number of fake PhDs bought each year exceeds 50,000 (Bear and Ezell), meaning that more people are underqualified holding these PhDs than qualified graduates That means that in all of these fields, especially in the medical field, there are people who are practicing without proper training and knowledge. As the years go by, the abundance of diploma mills becomes an increasingly concerning issue. The American Council of Education estimates that there are around 400-500 diploma mills currently in operation within the United States alone. In the book Degree Mills: The Billion Dollar Industry that Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas, Bear and Ezell estimated that there are currently more than 3300 unaccredited/ un-recognized colleges in the world that are selling counterfeit or fake diplomas to anyone willing to buy them. With more people willing to buy fake degrees, the number of diploma mills will only increase. With most of these institutions considered for-profit colleges, they do have varying systems of operations.
In the podcast Freakonomics, host Stephen J. Dubner states the two main categories of scams: “ One is simply a counterfeiting company, which sells fake versions of real degrees, from the university of your choice. The other is a diploma mill, essentially a fake university that issues its degree.” To shed more light on how diploma mills operate Anna Neifer details how one specific degree mill worked in her article “LinkedIn is Filled with Fake Degrees”. Almeda University. located in Idaho, using a conversion system that allowed people to convert three or more years' worth of job or life experience into any credit that was necessary for a specific degree. Neifer cites Henk van Ess as a journalist who exposed Almeda University when he documented his deal with the owner that would convert five years of dishwashing into a bachelor's degree.
Similar to the variation in operation systems, the way diploma mills attract their consumers has begun to change due to the capabilities of the Internet. Access to these “universities” has become even easier with the arrival of the Internet. Many universities have also employed the use of emails to advertise themselves as well. Creola Johnson stated that in 2003, emails containing ads for online colleges were on the top ten spam list in the USA; most of these schools were unaccredited diploma mills (3). While self-promotion in these industries was not difficult before the internet, the technological advancements made with the internet have allowed diploma mills to advertise to an even larger group of consumers while remaining untraceable to any groups hoping to debunk the business. Almeda University serves as proof of this revolution. In the past Almeda University would advertise itself in newspapers but has now recently shifted to using flashy web advertisements and payments that allow its website to appear first on the search results. When searching for online colleges, web browsers instantaneously bring up a myriad of websites and advertisements of degrees that offer online college courses or degrees that are “shockingly simple” to obtain. To make it worse these businesses are advertised right alongside legal, accredited online education programs.
What attracts people to these Diplomas - despite lacking any true value - is the promise of an easy promotion or job offer that may come with a degree. To make their profit, degree mills exploit this mindset without caring for the consequences. To start, one can view diplomas as a sort of currency. The more money you spend in the country, the less it is worth.
While interviewing Karl Rove, a Republican political consultant known for his work in George W. Bush’s administration on Freakonomics Radio, Stephen Dubner and Rove discuss the importance of getting a college degree in today’s world. During the interview, Rove states, “ I think I was in the last generation that could be stupid enough not to get a college degree. We live in a society in which credentials matter” (Freakonomics). While even only twenty years ago, there were plenty of opportunities for those who never finished a college degree, in today’s world it almost seems that a college degree is necessary to get some of the simplest jobs; the standard of education is getting higher and higher every year becoming more competitive than ever. Johnson argues in her article that employers are partially to blame for the success of diploma mills, asking far too much from the applicants, and to meet their demands, applicants turn to diploma mills as a fast solution. Diploma mills also offer those who already possess a job an easy raise. While this dishonesty is a major issue with diploma mills, it is not the greatest issue.
Some may argue that there is no harm in buying these fake degrees. The truth is that the buyers of fake degrees affect more than just themselves. One of the most well-known cases in the US regarding the education system is a scandal with the dean of admissions at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). In 2007, a woman named Marilee Jones admitted after almost thirty years of holding her position at MIT, that she had falsified her resume while not even possessing an undergraduate degree (Lewin). In an interview with Phillip L. Clay, M.I.T.’s chancellor he concludes, “In the future, we will take a big lesson from this experience” (qtd. Lewin). While Marilee was courageous enough to realize her mistakes and formally resign from her position and now give speeches to others in hopes of keeping them from going down her path, there are hundreds of cases where this does not happen, and it extends beyond the academic field.
A report from the States General Accounting Office showed that in 2004, 463 people were federally employed -- 28 of which had reached a senior position in office — who were found to have diplomas from unaccredited schools. (Johnson 4). For instance, Charles Abell who was the Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness during Bush’s administration was found to have a master's degree from Columbus University in Mississippi that was debunked as a degree mill. Many people have found their way into high positions of power ranging from political power to being in charge of a family practice. The possibility that someone underqualified making important medical decisions for yourself or your child is truly terrifying in itself. From here the question becomes, what is being done to stop this issue?
As it stands, there are currently no federal laws prohibiting diploma mills or owning a fake diploma. Bear adds that “The US Department of Justice's Prosecution Manual suggests that prosecutions of mail and wire fraud “should not be undertaken if the scheme employed consists of some isolated transactions…involving minor loss to the victims,” the manual goes on to suggest that serious action shall only be taken when there is a substantial population of victims resulting from the institution. Furthermore, the most detail many laws go into is regarding the generality of using fraudulence and similar practices leaving the problem of creating these laws to the states themselves. Bear states that in all fifty states, there is at least one law concerning the practices of diploma mills but that these laws are often extremely ineffective due to many of the problems involving the definition of a diploma mill/ unaccredited college. He suggests that the way these laws will be written in the future is to put heavy restrictions on the usage of these diplomas, making it difficult for one to use them to their full extent.
In 2007 a legislation introduced to the House by congresswoman Betty McCollum called the Diploma Integrity Protection Act of 2007 (H.R.773 - Diploma Integrity Protection Act of 2007). According to the Congressional Research Service, this bill would force the Secretary of Education to provide a list of accredited schools, establish a Diploma Mill Task Force whose goal would be to regulate the issue, and would give the Federal Trade Commission more power in punishing these institutions. Unfortunately, as this bill was passed around and approved, the contents of the bill were watered down until all that remained was a recognition of the federal government that diploma mills existed. This process repeated itself with the Diploma and Accreditation Integrity Protection Act in 2011. The bill was introduced in May 2011 by Timothy H. Bishop and states that only degrees given from institutions accredited by the secretary of education will be considered valid wherever the said degree is required. It also once again, gives the Federal Trade Commission the power - as mentioned above - to deal with diploma mills (H.R.1758 - Diploma and Accreditation Integrity Protection Act). While the was once again passed back and forth between committees, the bill died in Congress only two months later in July.
Currently, under an amended version of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Secretary of Education is legally required to publish a list of nationally accredited schools. While this amendment was a step in the right direction, there is much more to be done in terms of legal action. This is where states have stepped in and have begun creating their regulations against diploma mills. For example, the state of Washington passed legislation prohibiting the granting of a “false or misleading degree or other document that purports to confer a degree that is false or misleading” (HB 2507 - 2005-06) that allowed for penalties including prison and heavy fining.
With states beginning to take action with their own rules and regulations, some may argue that solving the issue of diploma mills is not as imperative as it has been previously suggested. While it is true that states have become more proactive in battling these institutions, it will take true power to eliminate the problem involving diploma mills, especially when factoring in the effect of the internet.
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