GovernmentExecutive.com

The federal government has not been effective enough in cracking down on so-called diploma mills, said House Education and the Workforce 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee Chairman Howard (Buck) McKeon, R.-Calif., at a Thursday hearing.

The Internet, with its increased emphasis on distance learning, has made diploma mills more prevalent and profitable, said Allen Ezell, a retired FBI agent who investigated education fraud during his tenure at the bureau.

Teachers, physicians and government employees have used these phony degrees to get jobs or promotions, Ezell said. Some diploma mills can print authentic looking certificates from real institutions, which could be used by terrorists and others to create fake identities.

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee previously ordered an audit of the Pentagon and six other federal agencies that found that at least 463 employees had received degrees from unaccredited schools, Ezell said. The federal government paid more than $150,000 to several of these schools for employees who requested reimbursement. Ezell said these figures likely are "just the tip of the iceberg."

McKeon noted there had not "been a lot of follow-up" after that probe. He said if Thursday's hearing in the House was "the end of it, I would be vastly disappointed" and asked Ezell whether new federal laws are needed.

"I think the laws we have now will work if they are properly enforced," he said. "This is a very lucrative business and no one is doing anything about it."

Ezell suggested assigning at least one FBI agent to investigate these institutions full-time. He also said Congress should encourage the Education Department to develop and publish a list of legitimate accredited colleges to be used by federal agencies and other employers when making hiring decisions.

Ezell cautioned federal agencies about automatically revoking the security clearances of employees who hold degrees from diploma mills.

While some students knowingly commit fraud, many are required to complete work or exams and believe they are earning a real degree, Ezell said. He mentioned the recent case of a high level Homeland Security Department official who lost her clearance after it was revealed she "graduated" from a known diploma mill.

But McKeon said, "I don't think there's any innocence. I think anybody who would do that would absolutely know what they were doing."

COMMENTS

• I want to support the ex-DoD employees tale of woe. I am in the same position today but too close to retiring to worry about trying to move to get promoted. I have been at the top of my grade since hired 12 years ago and can find no way to move to the next grade without moving locations (that is not acceptable). In the mean time they have hired contractors to do work that any boob could do and promoted on of the "good old boys" with no Professional Engineering Certificate or graduate degree over others with graduate degrees and PE's plus more years of experience! You should be glad to be an ex-DoD employee because things have not changed. With the new personnel system it will get much much worse and less likely to get any better. The new system will allow the "good old boys" to hire, pay and promote their friends even more than is possible now. Congress cannopt see the mess or choses to ignore it and the administration is simply making it worse. Look at all the Presidential appointees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that have robbed the public through stock manipulation to pay themselves outrageous salaries and bonuses for very little work. If Fannie Mae is so interested in homeownership why are they buying refinance loans? Waiting to Retire Posted September 28, 2004 6:46 AM
• Re: Diploma Mills I don’t know why it even matters whether or not you have any credentials. Where I used to work in DOD, if you were not in the in crowd – it didn’t matter what you did, you were going nowhere. For the guys and gals that were “in the club” they didn’t have to buy diplomas and lie about their education because , they moved up anyway. Such as the case with myself. Guess what group I fell into. I worked for a Command within the Dept. of the Navy in Philadelphia for 16 years, which, by the way, was in the worst “old boys club” you can imagine. I was a GS-11 technician for 10 of those years. I went to a real school at night for 7 years and earned a REAL engineering degree. I had REAL classes and REAL tests. Did it make a difference in my career? Nope. My boss had hinted in much of that time that “he wouldn’t necessarily promote me even if I ever graduated.” True to his word, when I finally graduated, he banded together with personnel and they stubbornly insisted that I move down to a GS-7 just to be reclassified as an engineer. And, although most people take for granted they would be moved up their career ladder – I knew better than to expect that where I worked. Now why didn’t I believe my boss when he said he didn’t want to promote me and bolt earlier? Because in all those years, I witnessed how all the members of the “ boys club” at the command were reclassified as engineers without taking a demotion or finishing school and then - further promoted into management-without finishing school. Guess what I had to do? I thanked them for the $$$$$ that was spent on my education and quit a month after graduation – before they had a chance to demote me. Oh, well. Ex-disgruntled DOD worker GovExec.com reader Posted September 27, 2004 2:26 PM
• People who get these fake degrees know exactly what they are doing. Often the action is based on the fact that a job posting requires a degree when, in fact, none is needed. The party to be punished is not the person getting the degree or the school issuing the degree - it is the supervisor and HR person that allows the fake degree to be considered as real. Also, reimbursement policy should state that only schools with specific accreditation will be considered for reimbursement. Employees attending schools that are not accredited should not be reimbursed. Again, it is the supervisor's fault and/or the HR person that approves the training for reimbursement. You don't need any new laws to control this problem - all you need is decent managers! tax payer Posted September 27, 2004 7:13 AM