We’ve talked about diploma mills before. They are responsible for those tempting emails we often see in our email boxes that award college degrees for life experiences. Although we know of the importance of accreditation and are weary of any degree program that requires little to no work, there are many people out there that unknowingly fall for diploma mill tricks. This has allowed diploma mills to generate around $500 million a year on the sale of fake degrees.

National Efforts to Stop Diploma Mills

While diploma mills have not yet left the education scene entirely, some steps have been taken in an effort to rein them back in. Last Thursday, US Congressman unveiled legislation that aims to stop diploma mills. The major points in the bill intend to:

• Define diploma mills and accreditation mills.
• Bar federal agencies from using degrees from diploma mills to provide jobs or promotions that depend of candidate’s educational credentials.
• Give the federal trade commission more authority to define and crack down on deceptive practices of the diploma mills.

This bill, which is further explained in a recent Inside High Ed article, is part of the nation’s much needed effort to stop unauthorized colleges and degrees. Until now, it has been very difficult to prosecute diploma mills (and those who purchase from them) without a legal definition of what one is. This new legislation will also make passing a fake degree off as an accredited diploma for personal gain a crime.

A recent Businessweek article reports that individual states are also taking matters into their hands to protect the legitimacy of their own educational institutions. In the state of Wisconsin, for example, lawmakers are considering a bill that would crack down on both the manufacture and use of phony academic credentials. Unauthorized schools would also be prohibited from using the words “college”, “university”, “state” or “Wisconsin” in their names. This bill would give regulators and law enforcement officials more power to stop diploma mills and those who do business with them. If this bill is passed, Wisconsin would be the 12^th state to make it a crime to use a fake academic degree.

Not only can you be prosecuted for selling fake degrees, you can also get in trouble for purchasing them. Because of this, it is very important to know about diploma mills in order to avoid getting scammed­­- or in trouble with the law.

Things to Know:

There are two rules of thumb to avoid getting a fake degree online through a diploma mill:

• Make sure the online degree program you are considering is an accredited program offered by a legitimate, accredited school.
• No legitimate college degree program will offer you a degree without you submitting and completing coursework and examinations.

While working towards a legitimate college degree will require your time and hard work, there are many different program options that you can choose to fit your goals and lifestyle. So save your time and money for a legitimate degree program, and stay far away from that diploma mill’s tempting email offering a quick and easy alternative. “Quick and easy” will not win in the world of higher education.