Education Department undecided on creating list of non-'diploma mills'

Education Department and congressional officials said Monday that the department has not yet determined if it will create a comprehensive list of accredited degree-granting institutions as part of the fight against diploma mills.

Earlier this month, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, urged Education Secretary Rod Paige to develop such a list and committee staffers are still pushing the issue.

"It would be of tremendous value," said Andrea Hofelich, a spokeswoman for the committee.

In an October 2003 letter, Paige told Collins it would be difficult to create a list of institutions that grant college degrees for a fee, while requiring little or no actual coursework, because they fall outside the jurisdiction of the Education Department.

"While I appreciate the value that could be realized from the creation of a definitive list of diploma mills … the Department of Education has no oversight or regulatory authority over institutions that do not participate in the programs included in the Higher Education Act," he wrote.

Collins' recent request for a list of accredited universities, however, would apparently circumvent the issue of oversight.

The diploma mill controversy, and a General Accounting Office investigation, was sparked last year when Department of Homeland Security administrators placed a senior technology official on administrative leave and investigated her educational credentials. Homeland Security did not return several calls seeking the current status of that investigation.

Congressional staffers and representatives from several of federal agencies met earlier this month to coordinate the effort to stop diploma mills and identify federal employees who use them.

"This is the first-ever summit on this issue, the first real brainstorming session, that has been held with state and federal officials," Hofelich said.

The meeting included officials from the Education Department, the Office of Personnel and Management, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Trade Commission, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, the House Government Reform Committee, and several states. While the meeting was not designed to produce concrete resolutions or planning, officials hailed the opportunity for increased coordination.

"Our purpose was to share information and create awareness about federal and state efforts to address the problem of diploma mills and to lay the groundwork for greater coordination," said Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education Sally Stroup. "We cannot solve this problem as states or federal agencies working independently."

The GAO report on diploma mills is due by March, and congressional officials expect to hold hearings on the issue shortly thereafter, according to Hofelich. GAO's investigation initially focused on Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Education, Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management and the Small Business Administration. At the request of Collins and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., it was recently expanded to include the Defense Department.