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OVERVIEW
It is important
to note that there are many legitimate and accredited
institutions offering
online degrees. Not all, or even most, online
schools or traditional, "bricks and mortar" institutions
with online course and/or degree offerings are unaccredited
or "diploma mills." |
The
terms "unaccredited" and "diploma mill" are
sometimes improperly treated as
synonymous. In
fact, there are a wide range of institutions representing
themselves
as
colleges or universities that grant degrees but do not
meet New Jersey standards.
At one end
of the spectrum are the outright diploma or degree mills
claiming "accreditation" by unrecognized accreditation
mills, the "no
questions asked diploma replacement services", the "Life
Experience" degree providers, or the providers of "novelty
diplomas for entertainment purposes only". These
businesses will offer, in return for payment,
to provide a diploma, and in some
cases,
a
transcript, a telephone verification
service,
employer letters, "Honors" for an extra fee,
etc. An
attempt to use such a "degree" in
New Jersey may well be considered a violation of NJ.S.A.
18A:3-15.2. Use of fraudulent degree and subject
one to substantial penalties. Some
tips on evaluating an institution to determine if it
is likely a "mill" are available below.
Some such "schools" may
purport to be offering you credit for "life
experience",
but will ask only for you to briefly describe
your qualifying "experience" on a web form.
Legitimate institutions sometimes grant some credit
for work experience
and non-collegiate training, but they require extensive
documentation, evaluation, review, and/or testing
before granting a relatively small portion of the credits
required
for a degree based on such experience.
At the other end of the spectrum
are institutions that may not be accredited but are not degree
mills. For
example, the institution may
be seeking accreditation, but the process is not complete.
Or a legitimate institution may choose not to be accredited
for reasons that do not relate to the quality of their offerings.
There is a
broad range of variation in quality between these extremes.
New Jersey law
provides that... A person or other legal entity shall not use, or attempt
to
use, in connection with any business, trade, profession or
occupation
any academic degree or certification of degree or degree credit,
including but not limited to a transcript of course work, which
has been fraudulently issued, obtained, forged or altered. A person
shall not, with intent to deceive, falsely represent himself as
having received any such degree or credential.
In
New Jersey (and in several other states), an even stricter
standard applies to the appending of titles or
letters
to one's
name which indicate
the attainment
of a
higher education degree; i.e., associates,
bachelors, masters, or doctorate. Doing so is prohibited
in New Jersey unless
the degree
was conferred by:
Please review
the relevant New
Jersey statutes and regulations and verify
the accreditation status of the institution
before you use or claim a college degree in
New Jersey.
If
the institution from which you have received
a degree is not licensed by the NJ Commission
on Higher Education
and does not appear in the database, with institutional
accreditation by a recognized regional
accrediting body, it is unlawful in
New Jersey to append the letters associated
with that
degree
to
your
name, e.g., Dr.,
Ph.D., Ed.D., M.S., B.A., etc.
Employers... You
can use these tools to confirm the accreditation status of
a school
from which an applicant claims a degree, but you should also verify the
coursework and/or degree information claimed with that higher
education institution. See Avoid
Fake-Degree Burns By Researching Academic Credentials, from the Federal Trade Commission.
K-12 Educators... The
New Jersey Department of Education generally requires that
coursework and degrees submitted in conjunction with an application
for certification or endorsement be from a regionally
accredited college or university.
If the answers to many of the following
questions are “yes,” the
degree provider under consideration may be a “mill”:
-
Can degrees be purchased?
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Is there a claim of accreditation when there is no evidence
of this status?
-
Is there a claim of accreditation
from a questionable
accrediting organization?
-
Does the operation
lack state or federal
licensure
or authority to operate?
-
Is little if any
attendance required
of students,
either online or
in class?
-
Are few assignments
required for
students to earn credits?
-
Is a very short
period of time
required to
earn a degree?
-
Are degrees
available
based solely on
experience
or resume
review?
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Are there
few requirements
for graduation?
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Does the
operation
fail to
provide any information
about a
campus or
business
location
or address
and rely,
e.g.,
only on
a post office
box?
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Does the
operation
fail
to provide
a list
of its
faculty
and their
qualifications?
-
Does
the operation
have
a
name
similar
to
other
well-known
colleges
and universities?
-
Does
the
operation make
claims
in
its publications
for
which there
is
no
evidence?
There are institutions that may not be accredited but
are not degree mills. For example, the institution may
be seeking accreditation, but the process is not complete.
Or a legitimate institution may choose not to be accredited
for reasons that do not relate to quality. |
According to the U.S. Department of Education's
website... The
Better Business Bureau suggests you watch for the following
features
and regard
them
as red
flags
when
considering whether or not to enroll in a school:
-
Degrees that can be earned in less time than at an accredited
postsecondary institution, an example would be earning
a Bachelor's degree in a few months.
-
A list of accrediting agencies that sounds a little too
impressive. Often, these schools will list accreditation
by organizations
that are not recognized by the U.S.
Department of Education or the Council
for Higher Education Accreditation (the
two reputable organizations that recognize accrediting
agencies).
These schools will also imply official approval by
mentioning state registration or licensing.
-
Offers that place unrealistic emphasis on offering
college credits for lifetime or real world experience.
-
Tuition paid on a per-degree basis, or discounts
for enrolling in multiple degree programs. Accredited
institutions
charge
by credit hours, course, or semester.
-
Little or no interaction with professors.
-
Names that are similar to well known reputable
universities.
-
Addresses that are box numbers or suites. That
campus may very well be a mail drop box or
someone's attic.
With the increase in the availability
of earning degrees online there has been an
increase in
diploma mills.
Diploma mills
often use the Internet to market their
programs. Diploma mills often promise degrees for
a fee in a few short
days or months.
New
Jersey:
Please see
the New Jersey Statutes and Regulations below for information
on using or claiming a degree in New Jersey.
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NEW STATUTE...
|
| May 6, 2010 -An Act requiring that
certain conditions be met in order
for school districts
to
provide
their employees with tuition assistance
for
coursework or additional
compensation upon acquisition of academic
credits
or completion of a degree program, passed
the General Assembly, has now passed
both houses, and has been
signed by the Governor. P.L. 2010, Chapter
13 |
|
Check back here for updates on legislative
activity and any new laws which may be
enacted.
|
New
Jersey Department of Education:
Oregon:
The Oregon Student Assistance Commission, Office of Degree
Authorization maintains an excellent and extensive
website related to accreditation and alleged degree
mills, including a listing
of known unaccredited institutions.
Michigan and
Maine also
maintain listings of known unaccredited
institutions.
Please note that such listings are almost always incomplete,
as phony schools can appear and disappear within days or
even
hours, particularly on the Internet.
A number of other
states also provide
online resources
on this topic. Links
to many are available
here through the CHEA
website.
U.S.
Department of Education:
-
SEARCH the
Listing of Postsecondary Educational Institutions
and Programs Accredited by Accrediting
Agencies and State Approval Agencies Recognized
by the U.S. Secretary of Education.
The U.S. Department of Education recommends that their
database be used as one source of qualitative information
and that additional sources of qualitative
information be consulted. One such resource
is the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation Database linked below.
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Accreditation in the United States
...The goal of accreditation is to ensure
that education provided by institutions of higher education
meets
acceptable levels of quality...
-
Diploma Mills
...Diploma mills are schools that are
more interested in taking your money than providing
you with a quality
education. You need to know how to protect yourself
as a consumer...
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Accreditation
...In some states*, it
can be illegal to use a degree from an institution that is
not
accredited
by a nationally recognized
accrediting
agency, unless approved by the state licensing agency.
* New Jersey is one such
state.
The
U.S. Network for Education Information Links:
Council
for Higher Education Accreditation:
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SEARCH the
Database of Institutions Accredited By Recognized United
States Accrediting Organizations
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Degree Mills: An Old Problem and A New Threat
Diploma or degree mills come in many guises.
Some degree mills blatantly offer to sell a degree
and perhaps
a transcript from a legitimate school...
-
Informing
the Public About Accreditation
“Accreditation” is
review of the quality of higher education
institutions
and programs. In the United States, accreditation
is a major way that students, families, government
officials, and the press know that an institution
or program provides a quality education...
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Important
Questions About Accreditation, Degree Mills and
Accreditation Mills
In their quest for higher education and
training, students and the public in the United
States
sometimes encounter “degree mills” – dubious
providers of educational offerings or operations
that offer certificates and degrees that may
be considered bogus...
International Organizations:
From the FAQs on Oregon's Office of Degree
Authorization site...
Is there a single
reliable reference that lists only legitimate
foreign schools, screening out diploma mills?
Not to our knowledge. Foreign school evaluation
is complex. The best single standard to use
for bare-minimum screening is whether the schools’ degrees
are fully usable as credentials for employment and acceptable at
other colleges within the home country.
Does an "apostille" issued
by a government body prove that a degree is
genuine?
No. An apostille (sometimes called an "Apostille of the Hague")
simply means that the document is a document of the sort it purports
to be. No evaluation of what stands behind the document is made.
An apostille affixed to a bogus degree does
not make it a genuine degree.
(For information on obtaining an apostille in New Jersey,
click here.)
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The New Jersey Standard
for Foreign Institutions...
...Regarding institutions located outside
of the U.S. or its possessions, a duly authorized institution
of higher education is one that is recognized by the appropriate
body in the particular country provided that the institution’s
requirements for awarding degrees are generally equivalent
to those accepted in the U.S. by an accrediting body recognized
by the U.S. Secretary of Education. (N.J.A.C 9A:1-8.1.a.2)
Foreign Transcript and Credentials Evaluations:
From a U.S.
Department of Education website...
SELECTING A
CREDENTIAL EVALUATION SERVICE
If the U.S. school or institution recommends that
you use a specific credential evaluation service, then
use the service, or one of the services, recommended
by the international admissions office.
If not, then you can select a credential evaluation
service yourself. You can search for credential evaluation
services on the Internet, but you should know that
there is no federal or state regulation of such services.
However, there are two national associations of credential
evaluation services that have published standards for
membership, affiliations to national and international
higher education associations and are frequently linked
to and used by federal agencies, state agencies, educational
institutions and employers.
-
National Association of
Credential Evaluation Services ( NACES) is
an association of 19 credential evaluation services
with admission standards and an enforced code
of good practice.
-
Association of International
Credentials Evaluators ( AICE) is
an association of 10 credential evaluation services
with a board of advisors and an enforced code
of ethics.
Neither the U.S. Department of Education nor USNEI
endorses or recommends any individual credential
evaluation service. |
Another potential resource for attempting
to determine if a foreign institution meets NJ's standard is
the
international
office
at the American
Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers in
Washington, D.C. Their searchable database is available
only by fee-based registration.
Some other potential resources for gathering information about
foreign institutions of higher education, ENIC
- NARIC and ENQA,
are linked below.
United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO): Note: According
to Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization, the
UNESCO database is no longer reliable as an indicator
of the legitimacy of foreign schools because UNESCO
has no screening function and has permitted some
doubtful schools to be listed.
-
SEARCH the UNESCO
Portal on Higher Education Institutions. This portal offers access to on-line information on higher
education institutions recognized or otherwise sanctioned by
competent authorities in participating countries. It provides
students, employers and other interested parties with access
to authoritative and up-to-date information on the status of
higher education institutions and quality assurance in these
countries.
Higher Education - Tools for Students
Information for students before embarking on a course of study.
ENIC
- NARIC (European National Information Centres - National Academic
Recognition Information Centres)
The Network is made up of the national information centres of the
States party to the European Cultural Convention or the UNESCO
Europe Region. An ENIC is a body set up by the national authorities.
While the size and specific competence of ENIC may vary, they will
generally provide information on:
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the recognition of foreign diplomas, degrees
and other qualifications;
-
education systems in both foreign countries
and the ENIC’s
own country;
-
opportunities for studying abroad, including
information on loans and scholarships, as
well as advice on practical
questions
related to mobility and equivalence.
ENQA (European
Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education)
ENQA disseminates information, experiences and good practices
in the field of quality assurance (QA) in higher education to
European QA agencies, public authorities and higher education
institutions. The site provides information on national accrediting
and evaluating bodies.
Other
Resources:
Federal
Trade Commission:
Government Accounting
Office (GAO):
U.S. Department of Labor: Employment & Training Administration
Diploma
Mills in the Cyberage
This is a link to an article concerning how diploma mills
have expanded via the Internet, written especially from the
perspective of employers.
New Jersey
School Boards Association:
New Jersey
Association of School Administrators:
Other:
BrainTrack® – The
Web's Most Complete Directory for
University and College Search
BrainTrack lists over 10,000
higher education institutions in 194 countries and
is continually updated with new schools and education
resources.
College Accreditation 101 - Understanding college accreditation is an important
step in choosing the right school. It can be easy to
be confused or misled by the accreditation claims on
college websites. BrainTrack's College Accreditation
101 section of articles provides information to help
students make informed decisions about the schools
they select.
Top 10 Signs: Real College Degree or Diploma Mill?
Diploma
Mill News Blog
Degrees and diplomas issued by diploma mills are frequently
used for fraudulent purposes, such as obtaining employment, promotions,
raises, or bonuses on false pretenses. Diploma Mill News provides
excerpts of articles and press releases related to bogus degrees.
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Office of the Secretary of Higher Education: 
Statewide: 
Copyright © State of New Jersey, 1996 -
