A Long-Distance Diploma

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And more often than not, these bogus accrediting agencies are set up by the very same shysters who set up the diploma mills.

Why would they bother? Because in the U.S., accreditation is the only truly independent guarantee of a school's or program's legitimacy, and so every school (even, or perhaps especially, the phonies) wants to be able to claim accreditation.

It's a problem that is specific to our free-market model of education. Unlike most other countries, the U.S. has no centralized, federal regulatory agency to oversee its postsecondary schools.

And state laws vary widely, making state licensing an unreliable measure of a program's legitimacy. "We've got 50 separate sets of state laws," says John Bear. "They range from the really tough, in places like New York and Pennsylvania, to the absurdly easy, in places like Hawaii, where you pay your $10 licensing fee, make a call to Mail Boxes, Etc. in Honolulu, and by this afternoon you can be operating as Lamb University and selling Ph.D.s—and not illegally, as far as the state of Hawaii is concerned."

From this void of federal and state oversight has emerged over the last half century a system of voluntary self-regulation. Colleges and universities agree to adhere to certain standards and to have their efforts periodically reviewed and accredited by a body of their peers. It is a system meant to assure students, employers, and academic registrars that a given institution satisfies certain minimum quality standards.

Because of this, many colleges and universities will accept transfer credits only from institutions accredited by ED- or CHEA-recognized accrediting agencies. And most employers require their employees to hold degrees from properly accredited institutions, as well.

That said, should you absolutely avoid institutions accredited by unrecognized agencies? Vicky Phillips' answer is unequivocal: "I could start the Phillips' Private Council of College Accreditors tomorrow and begin printing and mailing out my own degrees," she says. "But since I am not a recognized accreditor, the degree I mail to you might look fine on your wall, but ...from a consumer's perspective, you might as well hold a degree from a college accredited by yourself or your mother."

CHEA President Judith Eaton allows a bit more latitude. CHEA, she reminds us, is a voluntary organization, and so accreditors don't have to become members. And the Department of Education, for its part, recognizes only those accreditors with the authority to sanction so-called Title IV schools-those eligible to award federal student grants and loans (though that does include most traditional two- and four-year colleges).

The result, says Eaton, is that a "handful of perfectly fine accreditors" are not officially recognized by either ED or CHEA. But here, too, CHEA can help, says Eaton, since even if an accreditor is not a member, CHEA will usually know whether or not it is legitimate. "People can call us, and we will tell them what we know."

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