Introduction
Many people use fake college degrees and certificates, and use them to secure jobs and in some cases visas (Stein, 2010). Some states in the United States have tackled the problem but that, for most part, the federal government has not devised means of eradicating the practice (Sedgwick, 2000). Diploma or degree mills are illegal in many jurisdictions within and outside of the United States. They have continued to proliferate because it is almost difficult to trace them because they usually use multiple addresses and mail drops. Majority of such institutions operate on the internet, where they often pretend to be institutions of distance learning. However, rightful distance providers of e-learning are easy to recognize in the countries in which they are located, and they status are easily verified by contacting the relevant education authorities. Evaluators of academic credentials should be weary of documents issued by “universities” that have addresses are box numbers or office suites that cannot be verified in any authoritative independent publication. In most cases, degree mills always claim accreditation by one or more untrue “international”, “national”, “global”, or “worldwide” accredited agencies (Stein, 2010). The verification of status and existence of an institution is an important procedure when conducting review of educational documents.
Types of Diploma Mills
There exist thousands of diploma mills in the world but most of them fall into two categories. The first category belongs to diploma mills that sell degrees openly for money. These “colleges” do not hide as they tell their clients the truth. They sell degrees for cash. Both the recipient and the institution know that the certificates are not legitimate. In most cases, such schools do not operate under a designated name but instead allow their clients to select the name of any school they like. The second category of diploma mills operates under the pretence of being genuine schools. These are the most dangerous as they pretend to offer legitimate degrees. They always lure their students by promising them a life experience credit or fast-track learning. They usually allow their students to do minimal learning, but usually award degrees within a short duration of time, usually few weeks or months. Many students who fall prey and “graduate” from these diploma mills believing that they have earned genuine degrees.
How to Spot Diploma Mill
There exists a wide array of schools available for adult students to choose from when selecting distance or online learning programs. Regrettably, recognized degree programs stand along with unaccredited diploma mills. It is hard to differentiate between a legitimate institution and a fake one. Some of the signs of schools that do not provide genuine certificates include the following. To start with, such institutions run sites that list no names and little or no contact information (Siciliano, 2010). At the very least, genuine learning institutions will provide physical address and phone number on its website. As such, students should avoid “schools” that lists only P.O. Box or apartment. In addition, legitimate colleges will list the names and contact information of deans, faculty members, and other officials while diploma mills will not provide such information because such staff does not exist.
Secondly, diploma mills claim to be small schools yet they offer several courses with the aim of attracting more victims as possible. Additional, diploma mills offers ambiguous or vague information when speaking about its accreditation, or tries to downplay the importance of accreditation. Those planning to receive degrees recognized by employers should look for schools that are properly accredited. As such, schools that try to downplay the importance of being accredited do not issue genuine certificates but only interested in money. In order to confirm if a college is accredited, people are advised to research the database of the U.S. Department of Education (http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/) for a list of accredited schools (Siciliano, 2010).
Causes of Diploma Mills
Online learning is a new concept in the world of universities and colleges. Online colleges and traditional colleges are increasingly developing new programs in response to career needs of increasing student population. It is becoming more difficult to keep track of all new colleges and degrees the come into the field of higher education. Moreover, because web sites are easy and fast to establish, fraudulent colleges find it easy to create a convincing pretense, one that emulates the look a genuine online college. Another reason for the emergence of diploma mills is the increasing number of people seeking fake degrees in order to get jobs or visa but lack the ability to go through quality education. These people are willing to pay any amount of cash to get a degree in order to enable them pursue their motives including prestige and recognition.
Impacts of Diploma Mills
While some students obtain degrees from diploma mills knowingly, some receive their degrees believing that they are genuine degrees. Diploma mills have significant effects on employers. To start with, employees with fake degrees or credential results into hiring people without proper training or education that can result into significant risk to a company, customers, and the general public (Sedgwick, 2000). For example, a nurse without adequate skills can pose potential harm to a patient just the same way an incompetent accountant can created huge tax liabilities.
People holding such degrees can also damage the reputation of a company, especially when such employee makes it public that they possess a degree from such institutions. In some case, fake degrees can make companies waste their resources. Many companies pay high salaries to employees with advanced level of education while others consider education level when deciding on promotion. For such case, basing compensation and promotion decision based on a degree from a mill can lead to waste of financial resources (Stein, 2010).
Conclusion
With the increase proliferation of the role of internet in education with online universities and distance learning, diploma mills will continue to grow to an alarming rate. This requires students seeking higher learning to conduct careful verification before settling on a university or college. Similarly, employers must also understand how to spot fake degrees and keep them away from the workplace.
References:
Sedgwick, R. (2000, July/August). Diploma mills go digital. World Education News & Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.wes.org/ewenr/00july/feature.htm
Siciliano, R. (2010, February13). Diploma mills facilitate identity theft. HuffingToPost. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-siciliano/diploma-mills-facilitate_b_471723.html
Stein, J. (2010, March 12). Degree mills offer consumers a variety of fake college diplomas. The Cornell Daily. Retrieved from http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/03/29/%E2%80%98degree-mills%E2%80%99-offer-consumers-variety-fake-college-diplomas
