TOPICS
TOPICS
Education Department enlisted to help unmask diploma mills
In a letter sent Thursday, Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, urged Education Secretary Paige to develop an authoritative, Web-based list of accredited degree-granting institutions, which would enable individuals to easily determine the legitimacy of a particular degree.
Collins' request followed a day-long meeting between Governmental Affairs staffers and representatives from the Education Department, FBI, and FTC, in which participants discussed "diploma mills," institutions that grant college degrees for a fee, requiring little or no actual coursework.
Collins called the proliferation of these institutions "a serious problem which devalues the legitimate education credentials earned by millions of individuals through hard work, persistence, and achievement."
In July, she called for GAO to investigate diploma mill degrees held by federal government employees; that report is expected within a few weeks, according to a GAO spokesperson.
Collins became interested in diploma mills after Laura Callahan, a senior director in the Homeland Security Department's chief information officer's office, was put on paid leave last June while officials investigated allegations that she had acquired her degrees from an unaccredited diploma mill in Wyoming.
COMMENTS
- A list of approved accreditation organizations and accredited universities would be beneficial. It naturally stands to reason that if your institution isn't on the list, or have newly received accreditation from one of the organizations on that list, it isn't accredited. A listing of diploma mills just makes the information available to those that want to try beating the system. Robert McCauslin Posted May 24, 2004 10:36 AM
- A Web-based list of accredited degree-granting institution would be a valuable tool (we have several "printed" reference publications) but a web-based database would help keep of with the changes. A database of "diploma mills" would be of great value also. Ronda Wood Posted May 17, 2004 7:11 AM
- I believe this issue to be most important. When I worked for the federal government, there was an individual who had received a degree from some "correspondence" institute indicating said individual was a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine and now is called "Dr". Believe the individual also posts other certificates, licenses obtained in the same manner. No one seems interested enough to question. There should be standards. Theda Kresge Posted January 28, 2004 3:17 PM
