“Pssst! Wanna buy a fake degree?”
Thousands of people do so, every day.
Some consumers realize what they are doing, but an escalating number are being duped by fake “online colleges” which operate very sophisticated scams.
Colleges that sell fake educational credentials—commonly known as degree mills or diploma mills—are on the rise. They prey on consumer ignorance about terms like accreditation and licensing.
A college degree is the second most expensive purchase most people will make in their lifetime—second only to the purchase of a home. Without a college degree, careers remain stalled, wages low. For this reason, the sale of cheap bogus online degrees has become big business.
What Is a College Diploma Mill?Diploma mills, also known as degree mills, are bogus universities that essentially sell college diplomas— the piece of paper itself rather than the educational experience. Diploma mills literally crank out paper diplomas to anyone who pays the requested "tuition" amount—generally a lump sum of about $2,000, though sometimes much more.
“Diploma mills (or degree mills) are substandard or fraudulent ‘colleges’ that offer potential students degrees with little or no serious work,” says Alan Contreras, administrator of the Office of Degree Authorization for the Oregon Student Assistance Commission.
Diploma mills employ high-pressure sales forces that specialize in aggressive telephone and email tactics. Some diploma mills have been operating for decades. They avoid prosecution by changing their state of operation, by changing their name, or by locating themselves in states or foreign countries with the weakest educational laws.
Origins of the Problem #1 - Blind Public TrustIt never occurs to most to question a college. This lack of questioning has encouraged fraud.
Education represents a $900 billion market in the United States. Education, as a market, is second only to healthcare when measured as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This amount of money has encouraged for-profit entities to enter the field of distance learning in record numbers. As profit has replaced public good (the historical goal of non-profit enterprises), corruption has become inevitable.
Blind public trust of higher education, combined with unfiltered advertising opportunities via the Internet, have combined to create a perfect storm that has allowed fake online colleges and universities to proliferate and profit at rates even cockroaches would envy.
Origins of the Problem #2 – Economic Temptations Diploma mills cast an ominous shadow on the field of distance learning. The selling of unearned degrees is a part of what UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) refers to as “an epidemic of corruption worldwide” in higher education.
While most think of education corruption as associated with developing countries, UNESCO has identified the United States as ground zero for education fraud, largely because of the rising popularity of online education.
Speaking to the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2007, one of the authors of the UNESCO report, Jacques Hallack, a professor in France, fingered the Internet as the prime vehicle for the global spread of credentials from unregulated United States entities calling themselves “colleges” and “universities.”
The United States has no national or federal requirement that a college be accredited by a recognized agency; this lack of regulation has turned the United States into Education Scam Central. American diploma mills specialize in using the Internet to export fake credentials to a global marketplace desperate for higher education access.
In the United States over the last four decades, the sheer number of those who hold college degrees has continued to spiral. According to the Census Bureau's National Center for Education Statistics, in 1964 less than 10 percent of the population held bachelor's degrees; by 2004 that number had spiked to 30 percent.
In 2008 it is expected that more than 70 percent of high school graduates will seek admission to some sort of college or university system. Americans are literally storming the doors of academia.
Many employers expect applicants to hold a college degree, even for entry-level positions. In many careers, such as teaching, business, nursing, psychology and library science, the master’s degree is now considered mandatory.
At the same time, the cost of a college degree has escalated at inflationary rates that surpass precious metals. According to the College Board, the average sticker price for a bachelor’s degree during the 2007-2008 school year is: $25,000 at a public school; $95,000 at a private school.
By comparison, surveys of twenty-five North American college degree mills performed by GetEducated.com in 2008 revealed the average cost of a fake bachelor’s degree to be only $2,000. (The price tag is $500 more if the “student” wishes to "graduate" with honors.)
For many Americans, $2,000 seems a tempting bargain for a piece of paper that will determine their salary in a troubled job market.
As the economy tightens, the degree mill industry will continue to expand, offering American workers a tempting opportunity to purchase paper pedigrees.
ResourcesDiploma Mill Police Online Degree for Career & Life Experience: Is This a Scam?Top Ten Signs: College Degree or Diploma MillOnline College Degree Mills: How Prevalent Are They?Regional v. National Accreditation: Which is Better?
Unrecognized, Fake and Dubious Online College Accrediting AgenciesKitty Cat Earns Online MBA—With Honors
© 2009 GetEducated.com, LLC
I’m looking for an online MBA. I’ve found several that fit my budget but none are accredited by the AACSB. What is the AACSB? Do I really need a distance MBA degree that is accredited by them?
—Roberta, Gary, IN 
The AACSB is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. It is considered the gold standard of business school accreditation. But not every student needs an AACSB-accredited MBA... 
