Posted on 05/11/2004 8:49:08 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
WASHINGTON -- At least 28 senior-level federal employees in eight agencies have bogus college degrees, including three managers at the office that oversees nuclear weapons safety, congressional investigators have found.
The problem is likely even bigger, mainly because the government has no uniform way to check whether employees' alma maters are ``diploma mills'' that require little, if any, academic work, the General Accounting Office reported.
The findings by the investigative arm of Congress were to be presented to a Senate committee Tuesday.
An earlier GAO report revealed how easy it is to buy a degree from a diploma mill; this one shows high-level federal workers securing such degrees at taxpayer expense. The tally was $169,471 at just two of the schools.
The colleges in question often use names similar to those of accredited schools and offer degrees largely on a person's ``life experience.'' Some simply sell degrees for a flat fee.
Among those with bogus degrees in the GAO review were three workers with emergency operations roles and security clearances at the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Department of Energy.
One of those workers paid $5,000 for a master's degree from LaSalle University, an unaccredited school, the report said. He attended no classes, took no tests and told the GAO his degree was ``a joke.''
Other senior government employees with bogus degrees worked for the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Small Business Administration and the Office of Personnel Management.
Under law, the federal government may only pay tuition for academic degree training at schools sanctioned by a recognized accrediting body.
In contacting representatives of three diploma mills, an undercover GAO investigator found they would not permit enrolling in individual courses. Yet they were willing to change their billing practices to receive federal money, dividing the flat fee they charged by the number of courses a student needed to appear as if a per-course fee was charged.
The number of bogus degrees and the amount of tax dollars spent on them are likely understated across the government because of incomplete records and verifications, the GAO said.
Three unaccredited schools - Pacific Western University, California Coast University and Kennedy-Western University - provided data showing that 463 of their students were federal employees. Most of those listed were in the Department of Defense. The report did not name employees.
The investigation took place from July 2003 through February.
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee planned hearings Tuesday and Wednesday on diploma mills and the taxpayer's role in subsidizing them.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The problem is likely even bigger, mainly because the government has no uniform way to check whether employees' alma maters are ``diploma mills'' that require little, if any, academic work, the General Accounting Office reported.
In a non-government world, this “uniform way to check” diplomas could be designed and implemented in about two hours by an intern.
Huh? Would you explain this please?
If you are attempting to say that one shouldn't go to college at all..try getting a job with only a h.s. diploma.
signed
The Right Honorable Reverend ChilePepper
lawfully ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.
You are probably correct. If the employee were found to have used a phony degree to gain employment through a misrepresentation then they would likely be terminated.
However, most federal jobs do not require a degree at the entry level. How can there be senior managers out there without degrees? Easy, most worked their way up through the ranks over long careers.
I think what GAO is going on about (hard to tell from the article) is that the government subsidized some of these non-accredited degrees, which was in violation of regulations.
This was a continuation of education program for federal employees, the idea being better-educated employees work more efficiently. In reality it’s just another government subsidy to the education establishment, because most federal employees would not seek additional education if they had to pay for it. Why, because it does not necessarily translate into additional earning potential in the federal sector.
I will wager money that it was the “accredited” education establishment that got GAO to investigate this in the first place because they were loosing money.
What I mean is pay the person what they are actually worth; do not start tacking on pay increases simply because they got another degree.
If I have an analyst with a BS working for me at $75k/year, I'm saying that the work they are doing is worth that kind of money. If they come to me next week and say, "hey boss, just grabbed an MBA", I shouldn't automatically increase their pay. This is what is happening in government.
Certainly, higher degrees can add value to an employee's worth; but it is not axiomatic. Think about it: should an auto mechanic charge higher rates if he has a Ph.D. in Archaeology?
That's a little thing ya can't point out without getting called names, I guess. But the fact is that many employers, especially within the guv'mint, have been so anxious to hire a "diverse" staff, that little things like checking out credentials just got tossed by the wayside.
I agree with your assessment, although I did not know this was a fairly widespread problem in government. I would *think* its not as much a problem in private industry. Doesn't it follow that the people who are giving a raise to their employees had a raise coming anyway? The MBA is just a convienent tool for one to finally have the self-confidence to ask for a deserved raise in such situations, IMHO. It can't hurt, but I don't see legislatures making this hard law anytime in the next century.
Yet another reason to get the gubermint out of education (thanks Jimmuh Cahter).
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