Customer Reviews

Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas

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I loved this book. I was looking for information about why a medical licensing bill I supported was being hammered by some people who claimed to be doctors.

What I found was that they were all graduates of diploma mills who had bought the degree and the BS hook, line and sinker. They honestly thought that a correspondence course made them a doctor. Insane. And kind of sad.

This book had great information to find out if someone has a bogus degree, how "accrediting agencies" are set up by the same diploma mills that they claim to accredit, and what can be done about it. It was written by the FBI guys who spent their careers going after these scam artists. There are several chapters of information that is very useful as well as some jolly good stories.

Ok ok ok ~ a major point of this book is how degree mills are NOT a new social phenomenon, but their methods are constantly changing, evolving, and targeting both the naive, the deceptive, and the criminal. This book was fantastically written, well researched, with interesting apendicies to boot! here are a few of my favorite points of this book:

1. An indepth look as the the motive many degree mill 'customers' have in seeking these degrees. The authors discuss motivations to have a degree (even in a field where one is not required), advantaged in business settings, and even those folks who may not be fully aware of what they are getting themselves into when they first 'enroll.' In 2001, Laura Callahan, a top-dog in the department of homeland security, was summarily dismissed when her degree was in fact exposed as an unaccredited credential from a degree mill. In the appendix, the authors included, word for word, an essay Laura wrote about her entire experience, motivations, et cetera in purchasing a degree. VERY eye opening.

2. Very detailed descriptions of HOW diploma mills operate, get around state and federal laws, and even secure customers.

3. Discussion into the definition of degree mills, and how to navigate that grey area between a reasonable online university that may have new or innovate teaching methods in which accrediting agencies are still trying to grasp, diploma mills, and everything inbetween. See, most "Diploma mills" lay somewhere in the middle ~ between reasonable institution and outright scam ~ and this books gives tools to navigate those waters and make rational decisions.

4.Explaining how accrediting workd ~ which frankly is a mystery to almost all students at any major 'brick and mortar' institution. What is accreditation, how is it defined, who decides it, and how do you decide what is acceptable?

Fantastic book ~ well written, and VERY thought provoking.

I've followed the work of John Bear for years and this book with Alan Ezell is up to his usual level. At one point in my life I was hiring college teachers and the Bear books were a real help in analyzing applicants. It is nice to have a book like this available when you hear about a new college or program.

A very eye opening book on unaccredited universities, how they work, and why the continue to exist (lack of centralized enforcement allows them to avoid regulation, among other things). Every HR director should read this immediately and make sure they have adequate academic screening in place before they become the next company to be embarrased by having an unaccredited degree holder of theirs exposed in the press.

Could use an updated version to cover two recent occurences. The Senate hearing in 2004 (Bogus Degrees and Unmet Expectations) that investigated Kennedy-Western University (now Warren National University) and others that either flat out sold "degrees" for cash or waived half of the degree for "life experience" and then required some perfunctory work for the rest. The second is the sentencing of the owners of St. Regis University and the publication of their "degree holders".

Do you know where your doctor, lawyer, or employee has earned his degree? If you're not familiar with the school or don't know, you'd better check out the eye-opening Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollars Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas. With the rise of the Internet has risen over 300 active degree mills selling thousands of fake degrees weekly - including medical and legal degrees. Author Ezell specialized in degree fraud in 35 years of work with the FBI and here provides some invaluable insights for any business manager or professional.