McCollum Introduces Higher Education Legislation to Combat Diploma Mills and Fraudulent Degrees
Press Release
McCollum Introduces Higher Education Legislation to Combat Diploma Mills and Fraudulent Degrees
Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) today introduced the Diploma Integrity Protection Act, legislation to protect students from so-called "diploma mills" that that sell fraudulent degrees while requiring little or no academic work. Lax law enforcement and technological advances such as the internet and email have resulted in the proliferation of diploma fraud.
"The integrity of a diploma is more important than ever," said McCollum. "Fraudulent businesses selling worthless degrees have created a variety of serious problems, from harming the reputations of American colleges and universities and cheating employers, to critical issues of personal safety with fraudulent medical schools. More and more, this is also a national security issue. Fraudulent academic programs could be used to obtain visas to enter the United States."
A 2004 study by the Government Accountability Office found that at least 463 federal employees, including employees at the Department of Homeland Security, held degrees from diploma mills and other unaccredited universities. In addition to hiring employees who are likely unqualified, employers, including the federal government, have wasted resources paying tuition to diploma mills.
McCollum is joined in introducing Diploma Integrity Protection Act by original cosponsors Timothy Bishop (D-NY) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who are members of the House Education and Labor Committee. The legislation puts standards and guidance in place to help increase law enforcement efforts to shut down operators of diploma mills, including:
Defining a what it means to be a degree-granting institution
Requiring the Department of Education to maintain a list of degree-granting institutions for federal employment and student visa purposes.
Establishing a task force to review issues associated with diploma mills and possible solutions.
Granting additional authority to the FTC to crack down on diploma mills.
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