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How Prevalent are Bogus Degrees?

Posted by Cliff on from the a-BS-from-Phony-U dept.

Paul Townend asks: "The BBC are reporting that a US government investigation has found that 28 top federal employees possess bogus college degrees (usually based on 'life experience'), and the phenomenon may be much bigger. Have Slashdot readers come across or worked with people with such degrees? Does it give them an advantage? What happens when they're discovered?"

5 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm unimpressed by michaelggreer · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the CBS story:

    "Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Abell has a master's from Columbus University, a diploma mill Louisiana shut down. Deputy Assistant Secretary Patricia Walker lists among her degrees, a bachelor's from Pacific Western, a diploma mill banned in Oregon and under investigation in Hawaii"

    These two, at least, are indeed just below cabinet level

  2. There are a lot of "fraulleges" out there.. by RainbearNJ · · Score: 3, Informative

    But then there are at least a few that do help you do things like CLEP out of classes based on life experience. And they are acredited, like the Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey.

    Then again, they're not a "Send us $99 and we'll give you an MBA" type of school, either.

    --
    Lucky for me I always have Emergency Pants!
  3. Sound-alikes schools by breon.halling · · Score: 2, Informative

    Let's not forget degrees form sound-alike schools; such as MIT -- the Miami Institute of Technology.

    And yes, such a place actually exists. I think it's above a convenience store.

    --
    "Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
  4. Re:I'm unimpressed by RyanGWU82 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mr. Abell is not "Assistant Secretary of Defense" as the article claims. His actual title is Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness which puts him three levels below Rumsfeld.

    Likewise, Ms. Walker's actual title is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Material and Facilities) (PDF), but even that's misleading because it's only for Reserve Affairs. In other words, she's 4-5 levels below Rumsfeld, as this PDF indicates.

    In the big scheme of the federal government, those people are high, but not unreasonably so. There are thousands of employees at their level.

    It's strange that they're in the Department of Defense, though. You'd think that a significant security clearance would be required for that kind of job. On the other hand, having a worthless master's degree wouldn't necessarily disqualify them from the job.

    Ryan

  5. Wired News coverage about diploma mills. by KevinDumpsCore · · Score: 3, Informative

    Check out Wired New's coverage of diploma mills:
    http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,54596,00.h tml

    They note that US colleges should be accredited by either the Department of Education or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation.