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.