Diploma Mills: Watch Out for Fake Degrees
Have you ever heard the term "Diploma Mill"? In August 2008, Washington State authorities put a large group of diploma mills out of business. The diploma mill owners, Steven K. Randock; his wife, Dixie E. Randock; and their daughter, Heidi Kae Lorhan, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and have gone to prison from one to three years. In July 2007, the Indiana State Attorney General shut down the web sites DiplomasAndMore.com, operated by Michael J. Everett, and DocumentProfessionals.com, operated by David Schoettlin. They had been selling fake Indiana University degrees and fake high school diplomas online.
What is a Diploma Mill?
Diploma mills are fake schools that offer fake degrees. Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines a diploma mill as "An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or because of the lack of proper standards, worthless." Diploma Mills are scams operated by con artists.
What should you watch out for? Read these tips for identifying potential diploma mills!
Diploma Mill Degrees are a Scam
Diploma mills are fake schools that offer fake degrees. The Randocks operated dozens of them and made millions of dollars selling worthless diplomas to thousands of people. They claimed their schools were based in Liberia but offered legitimate distance education programs. This was nothing but a lie. You cannot earn a legitimate college degree by paying someone a lot of money to mail you a printed diploma.
Other diploma mill scammers have also operated networks (but no real schools) internationally, spreading the fraudulent business across the U.S., England, Europe, the Bahamas, and the Middle East. Still others, like Everett and Schoettlin, use the Internet to sell fake diplomas, pretending later that they were only meant to be party favors or joke gifts.
Diploma Mills vs. Accredited Schools
Diploma mills often claim to be accredited schools—they are not—and issue degrees for "life experience" rather than college coursework.
Another way in which diploma mills try to appear legitimate is to use the name of an actual accredited college, or a name so close to that of an accredited school that unwary consumers confuse the two and think they're one and the same.
For example, one of the Indiana attorney general's investigators bought Indiana University Kelly School of Business MBA degrees from Everett and Schoettlin's web sites, whereas the correct name of IU's business school is the Kelley School of Business. The fake diplomas were also embossed with what the fraudulent company claimed to be an IU "University Seal" and contained forged signatures of IU officials.
Tips for Identifying Diploma Mills
The Randocks are out of business for a little while, but there are plenty of other diploma mills and diploma mill operators out there, still managing to elude authorities. However, if you are careful and on guard, there are clues for identifying diploma mills. The Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recommends that you keep the following questions in mind when you're looking at degree providers. If the answers to many of the questions are "yes," the degree provider may be a diploma mill:
- Do you have to buy the degree?
- Is there a claim of accreditation when there is no evidence of this status?
- Is there a claim of accreditation from a questionable accrediting organization?
- Does the operation lack state or federal licensure or authority to operate?
- Is little if any attendance required of students, either online or in class?
- Are few assignments required for students to earn credits?
- Is a very short period of time required to earn a degree?
- Are degrees available based solely on experience or resume review?
- Are there few requirements for graduation?
- Does the operation fail to provide any information about a campus or business location or address and rely, e.g., only on a post office box?
- Does the operation fail to provide a list of its faculty and their qualifications?
- Does the operation have a name similar to other well-known colleges and universities?
- Does the operation make claims in its publications for which there is no evidence?
To give legitimate schools the benefit of the doubt, CHEA also cautions, "There are institutions that may not be accredited but are not degree mills. For example, the institution may be seeking accreditation, but the process is not complete. Or a legitimate institution may choose not to be accredited for reasons that do not relate to quality."
CHEA Database of Accredited Colleges and Legitimate Accrediting Agencies
Protect yourself from a con artist's scam by making sure that the college or university you're interested in is accredited by a legitimate accrediting agency. CHEA has both a directory of accredited colleges and a directory of authorized regional and national accrediting agencies. If the school you want to apply to claims to be accredited by an accrediting body you're not familiar with, you can check the CHEA site to see if the accreditor is legitimate.
Beware of all Mail, Email, and Websites that Advertise These Diploma Mills
- St. Lourdes University
- Berkeley Professional University
- Concordia College & University
- American West University
- Robertstown University
- Hartland University
- St. Regis University
- InTech University of Engineering & Science
- Mission High School
- JA High School
- Liberty High School
- Northwest United University
- Holmes University
- Valorem University
- Capital University Of Arts & Technology
- Bradford College
- University of the Punjab
- Branford Academy College Prep HS
- Breyer State University
For a list of unaccredited U.S. and international higher education "schools," check this Wikipedia page. If the school you're considering is on this list, think again. It could be a diploma mill.
Find an accredited program that works for you
Sources:
1) "Another Diploma-Mill Operator Is Going to Jail," Chronicle of Higher Education, August 8, 2008
3) Office of the Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter, July 5, 2007
4) Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster; June 2002
5) Council for Higher Education Accreditation, www.chea.org