Action Urged on Diploma Mills

September 27, 2004 4:00 PM

Federal and state governments need to take action to shut down and prosecute operators of diploma mills, according to testimony given Sept. 23 before the House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness.

"Diploma mills harm students, taxpayers, and both federal and state governments. They mislead consumers and employers and pose dangers to legitimate institutions of higher education," said Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), chairman of the subcommittee.

"Reliance on phony degrees is not a victimless crime," continued McKeon. "Take the disturbing story of an individual claiming to be a physician in North Carolina who treated an 8-year-old girl for complications with diabetes. The girl's mother trusted the 'doctor' based on his MD degree, and took her daughter off of insulin, as instructed. Sadly, her daughter died. The physician? He earned his 'degrees' from bogus institutions; all of his diplomas came from diploma mills."

Retired FBI agent Otho Allen Ezell, Jr. testified on his involvement with Operation Diploma Scam (DIPSCAM), a series of investigations conducted between 1980 and 1991 to crack down on the sales of phony degrees. In that time, Ezell and the task force executed 16 federal search warrants, obtained 19 federal grand jury indictments, and convicted 21 individuals. Agent Ezell purchased 10 Bachelor, 19 Masters, four Ph.D., and two M.D. degrees from these diploma mills.

“Degree mills are not just a recent problem,” Ezell told the committee. “We have had them in the United States since about 1835. As long as we have a credential conscious society, where the degree you possess gets you the promotion or salary increase, then we will have degree mills. This is education fraud and no different from any other fraud.”

According to Ezell, there are 2,567 unrecognized schools, many of which are diploma mills, and 202 unrecognized accreditors, some operated by the same person as the degree mill.

Ezell also told the committee that no new federal statutes are necessary. He suggested that the Department of Education develop and publish on the Internet a web-based listing of accredited colleges and universities, and that states adopt the Oregon model and create an Office of Degree Authorization.

Robert Cramer, managing director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Office of Special Investigations, testified on the findings from a number of investigations into diploma mills, specifically examining whether federal employees hold these faulty credentials, and whether they were purchased for at government expense.

"Several factors make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to determine the extent of unauthorized federal payments for degrees issued by diploma mills," said Cramer. "First, the data we received from both schools and federal agencies understate the extent to which the federal government has made such payments. Additionally, the way some agencies maintain records of payments for employee education makes such information inaccessible."

Jean Avnet Morse of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education testified on the role accreditors--particularly those recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education to allow participation in the federal student aid programs--play in protecting the higher education against fraudulent institutions.

"Regional accreditors can bring to the problem over 100 years' experience in defining quality education, applying standards by using qualified peer reviewers, and changing as higher education has changed," said Morse. "Accreditation is not just a periodic reporting for compliance. It is a continuous process that emphasizes the institution's capacity and plans for growth and improvement.”

The complete testimony and a web cast of the hearing can be found here.