Diploma Mills:

Diploma mills have been in operation for decades. Just last December, a story reported that non-accredited Florida nursing schools sold 7,600 fake diplomas. Defendants linked to the Palm Beach School of Nursing participated in a scheme to sell phony academic credentials so that individuals could apply for a nursing license without completing required clinical instruction and coursework.

Another jarring story broke several years ago when CBS outed physicians holding fake degrees from Corllins University, a known diploma mill.

Imagine your mother or child being treated by someone who purchased an MD or nursing degree instead of earning it! 

The Trend of Fake Degrees

While the above reports are frightening, they represent an ongoing trend. Unfortunately, it is easy for individuals to represent they have a degree when they don’t. It is fast and relatively inexpensive for individuals to purchase a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate from diploma mills. Diploma mill applicants are not required to complete coursework, and while some diploma mills require the individual to complete a quick “life experience” survey, the only firm requirement to obtain a degree is to pay the fee. 

Havocscope is an online organization that monitors black market products and activities, and they report that selling fake diplomas as a ‘product’ is currently a 1 Billion dollar industry! They also state that bachelor’s and master’s diplomas can be purchased for around $500. And according to John Bear and former FBI agent Allen Ezel in “Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollar Industry that has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas”, it is estimated that more than 50% of individuals claiming to have earned a PhD purchased a fake degree from a diploma mill.

The most frightening aspect of someone falsifying their education is that a 3rd Party Background check may not identify degrees from Diploma Mills. 

What are Diploma Mills?

Diploma Mills operate without supervision from a state or authoritative agency, therefore they do not meet educational standards. Some of these institutions will claim accreditation from non-recognized agencies to make them appear valid. However, don’t let an ‘accreditation’ fool you as there are hundreds of fake accreditation agencies, which makes it more difficult to tell which educational institutions are real.  

Get Educated is currently tracking more than 300 active diploma mills. The FBI established a dynamic Wikipedia site that tracks over 400 Diploma Mills with another 300+ websites offering counterfeit diplomas.

Many diploma mills look authentic because most of them have a professional-looking website. They also have staff who answer phones and verify the Job Seeker “earned” the degree listed on his/her resume, making it virtually impossible for a 3rd Party Background check to identify the degree is fake. Some of these diploma mills even have online databases where you can enter the Job Seeker’s name and instantly “validate” the degree purchased.

How Do You Spot A Fraudulent School Or Degree?

Accreditation is important. 

Valid educational institutions should have proper accreditation. For example, in the US, when a job description requires a degree, the unspoken requirement is that you have obtained a degree from an accredited university.  

Said differently, a bachelor’s from a non-accredited university (or a university accredited by a fake accreditation agency) will not qualify you for a position that requires a bachelor’s degree. In the US, most often the accreditation expected will be from a regional agency. The six regional accreditation boards in the US are:

• • MSA – Middle States Association of Colleges & Schools
  • NASC – Northwest Commission on Colleges & Universities
  • NCA – North Central Association of Colleges & Schools
  • NEASC – New England Association of Schools & Colleges
  • SACS – Southern Association of Colleges & Schools
  • WASC – Western Association of Schools & Colleges

You may also see educational institutions with national accreditation, but these aren’t viewed to be as rigorous as the regional accreditation agencies. The three most common national accreditation agencies are: 

• • Distance Education & Training Council (DETC)
  • Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools (ACICS)
  • Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC)

There are also specialty accreditation agencies for theology training programs and careers governed by state licensing boards. 

While it is good advice to be familiar with the types of accreditations available, the easiest way to tell if a US-based educational institution is accredited is to contact the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or the US Department of Education (USDE). We use the US Department of Education’s Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) to validate someone’s US Degree.

Confirm the educational institution offers the degree. 

Once you confirm the school is accredited by a valid accreditation agency, verify that the degree is offered by the institution. For example, a CRA candidate listed a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from a small school I hadn’t heard of. After confirming the school was accredited on the DAPIP site, a quick phone call confirmed the school doesn’t offer a Bachelor’s in Chemistry. 

Demand Clarity

The Government Accountability Office reports that their: “ability to identify degrees from unaccredited schools is limited by several factors. First, diploma mills frequently use names similar to those used by accredited schools, which often allows the diploma mills to be mistaken for accredited schools. For example, Hamilton University of Evanston, Wyoming, which is not accredited by an accrediting body recognized by ED, has a name similar to Hamilton College, a fully accredited school in Clinton, New York. Moreover, federal agencies told us that employee records may contain incomplete or misspelled school names without addresses. Thus, an employee’s records may reflect a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton, but the records do not indicate whether the degree is from Hamilton University, the unaccredited school, or Hamilton College, the accredited institution.”

Always ask for additional information when a candidate lists an institution that has a similar name to others. For example, there are over twenty valid institutions with ‘Cambridge’ in the name, but according to the FBI’s listing of Diploma Mills, there are three that are known to be fraudulent. 

You also want to demand clarity when a candidate lists an educational institution but no degree, a degree without a year of graduation, or a degree without a specific area of study. Examples include:

• • Faber College; 1989 – 1992 (what degree?)
  • Faber College, BS Chemistry (what year?)
  • Faber College, Bachelors of Science; 1992 (BS in what?)

Other things to watch for:

Always compare degrees listed on the Job Seeker’s Social Media profiles to what they have stated on their resumes. You should also compare older resumes to newer ones. We often see where the candidate will change their degree in order to appear more competitive. 

International degrees can be tricky. Unfortunately, no single authority oversees the recognition of foreign degrees in the US. And while we have several clients who accept foreign degrees, we have just as many who don’t.

While I would NOT recommend you refuse candidates based on the origin of their degrees, I do advise that you be extra diligent when validating degrees obtained in other countries. 

Resources to Help Identify Diploma Mills

The key is to know what to look for and what questions to ask to validate the Job Seeker’s education. Here is a listing of the resources referred to in this article: 

• • US Department of Education – Diploma Mills and Accreditation Resources and Publications. 
  • The US Department of Education’s Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP)
  • Wikipedia’s list of unaccredited institutions of higher education.
  • Get Educated’s current list of active diploma mills.
  • Wikipedia’s list of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations.

Quick Note About Certifications

Many clients and candidates ask about certifications. I am a fan. But be careful because there are many fake organizations offering certifications. I ran across one the other day that was charging three times as much as an industry-known certification from the ACRP, SOCRA, or IAOCR…and they didn’t even define the CRA role correctly. 

It is smart to obtain an industry certification or accreditation but stick with reputable organizations. 

Need Help?

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