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GAO-03-269R 1 (2002-11-21)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptapez0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 November 21, 2002 The Honorable Susan M. Collins Ranking Minority Member Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Committee on Governmental Affairs United States Senate Subject: Purchases of Degrees from Diploma Mills Dear Senator Collins: This report responds to your request that we investigate issues concerning the proliferation of diploma mills, which sell bogus academic degrees based upon life experience or substandard or negligible academic work. Specifically, you asked that the Office of Special Investigations, acting in an undercover capacity, demonstrate how easy it is to purchase a degree from a diploma mill. You also asked us to identify and interview individuals who have purchased degrees from diploma mills and determine whether those individuals have used their bogus degrees to increase income, defraud employers, or gain positions of public trust. We briefed your office on our investigative findings. This report summarizes those findings and includes documents referenced in that briefing. We conducted our investigation from May 14, 2001, through May 8, 2002, in accordance with investigative standards established by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency. We searched the Internet and identified Degrees-R-Us as a diploma mill. Posing as an individual working in the biology and medical technology field, our investigator purchased a bachelor's and a master's degree, as well as a 1-year degree verification service from Degrees-R-Us. In addition, we obtained a list of individuals who have purchased degrees from Degrees-R-Us and interviewed several of them to determine how they have used their degrees. We also obtained a list of entities that the Oregon State Office of Degree Authorization has identified as diploma mills and enlisted the assistance of a government-sponsored Internet job recruitment Web site to identify individuals who have listed degrees from diploma mills on their r~sums. We then conducted interviews with several individuals who held positions of trust and responsibility in order to determine whether they used their diploma mill degrees to obtain their positions, increase their earning potential, or defraud employers. In summary, we purchased a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Master of Science degree in Medical Technology from Degrees-R-Us, a diploma mill. Based on the lack of candid responses during our interviews with individuals who purchased GAO-03-269R Purchases of Degrees from Diploma Mills

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