Higher education officials push to outlaw phony degrees

Four Missourians were customers of a business that manufactures fake diplomas.

By Eva Dou

Published Dec. 5, 2008

Spurred by a recent diploma mill scandal involving at least four Missourians, the Missouri Department of Higher Education is pushing for a law against phony degrees.

Under the proposal, it would be illegal to use a fake degree to obtain a job or promotion in Missouri. The department is seeking a legislator to sponsor the bill.

"We are still in the preliminary stages, but we feel it is important to protect the integrity of degrees in Missouri," said Leroy Wade, assistant commissioner of higher education.

Under existing law, using a fake diploma containing a real university's name constitutes fraud, but it is not illegal to use a degree from an institution that grants degrees based on "life experience" rather than coursework, Wade said.

Before it was shut down, the St. Regis University diploma mill in Washington State provided phony degrees marked "St. Regis University," and ones imitating degrees from real institutions. St. Regis was supposedly based in Liberia, but had no actual classrooms.

Federal and state investigators busted the $7 million operation this summer, revealing four Missourians among the business's customers.

One man had purchased "Missouri University" master's and doctorate degrees in psychology for $1,800 in 2002. He specified in his order for the diploma to say "Columbia, Mo." and to contain black and gold, MU colors.

Officials do not know how many Missourians purchased phony degrees, but national estimates are as high as 200,000 per year, according to the state higher education department.

Wade said Missouri law needs to catch up when it comes to fake degrees.

It is illegal in 10 states to use a degree from an unaccredited institution in seeking a job or promotion. Wade hopes to make Missouri the 11th.

Oregon has had a law against using unaccredited degrees since 1997, said Alan Contreras, administrator of the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization. Potential penalties include fines and up to six months in jail, though the office has never had to resort to the courts to resolve an issue.

"We get maybe 10 or 12 cases a year," Contreras said. "Some of them are very significant, serious cases, but most of them are when someone gets ratted out by their employer or a coworker before they really do any harm."

Offenders must stop using the false credential within 30 days.

Diploma mills have received national attention as well.

In February, the U.S. House passed a version of the Higher Education Opportunity Act that contained a definition of diploma mills as well as measures addressing the use of phony degrees.

However, several key provisions — including the one that would have allowed the Secretary of Education to deny legitimacy to the St. Regis operation — were removed from the final version passed by both the House and Senate in July.

Zora AuBuchon, a lawyer for the state higher education department, said she is continuing to look for a legislative sponsor for the Missouri bill.

"The Coordinating Board for Higher Education, which oversees the department, approved this legislative proposal in September of 2008," AuBuchon said. "Now we're just seeking a sponsor."

The department would oversee the measure if it were passed.