SB 104-15: Diploma Mill Ban Act (Passed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not to run roughshod over any concerns expressed subsequent to introduction, speaking on the underlying matter, my experience over the past three months and the ultimate end result (which while not as ambitious as I would have hoped still amounts to progress) has led me to the conclusion that there needs to be aggressive policy to reign in the fraud, abuse, grift and outright scamming that is occurring in higher education, driving up the cost and bankrupting our economy from the bottom up.

This in turn has knock on effects towards ability to buy homes, start businesses, save and invest. It also leads to higher costs for most any professional service as they have to in turn charge more as well.

The worst offenders are by far the pro-profit private institutions and while not all of them necessarily meet the classical definition of a "diploma mill", their sheer cost and sheer worthlessness of the product offered would have to make anyone capable of independent analysis desire criminal prosecutions to ensue.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not to run roughshod over any concerns expressed subsequent to introduction, speaking on the underlying matter, my experience over the past three months and the ultimate end result (which while not as ambitious as I would have hoped still amounts to progress) has led me to the conclusion that there needs to be aggressive policy to reign in the fraud, abuse, grift and outright scamming that is occurring in higher education, driving up the cost and bankrupting our economy from the bottom up.

This in turn has knock on effects towards ability to buy homes, start businesses, save and invest. It also leads to higher costs for most any professional service as they have to in turn charge more as well.

The worst offenders are by far the pro-profit private institutions and while not all of them necessarily meet the classical definition of a "diploma mill", their sheer cost and sheer worthlessness of the product offered would have to make anyone capable of independent analysis desire criminal prosecutions to ensue.

Are you speaking of for-profit private education institutions in general? If not, do you believe the current language needs to be strengthened? The value of any degree needs to be made very clear from the beginning, before the student commits or uses any special aid or scholarships.

We discussed the matter in passing back in June. I certainly think there should be accountability for all educational institutions regarding the product delivered relative to the cost, how best to accomplish that though is harder to say and might be better addressed separately. Some of these mechanisms could involve withholding portions of the money from the institution until some criteria is met (Graduation, employment in the field of study etc). That is something I had considered over the past few weeks.

The issue is certainly in the same ballpark as this in terms of "making the value of the degree clear from the beginning" but at the same time, you have the outright diploma mill where it is a question of holding them accountable relative to accreditation, which they lack. Then you have the broader category of accredited schools who over promise, under deliver and always get paid in advance under the current system and are never on the hook for the debt or the value of the degree offered. This is your bill, so if the preference is to address the former here and then do a separate bill for the latter I certainly understand, because once you get beyond accreditation/diploma mills, it gets much more complicated to enforce accountability.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Any other thoughts on the matters stated in my last post here?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Any other thoughts on the matters stated in my last post here?

I can't exactly think of a way to enforce accountability standards for colleges. Graduation rates, at least, are pretty easy to find, but a low graduation rate doesn't necessarily mean the college is bad. Generally, colleges that are more exclusive and selective have higher graduation rates, which might say more about the students than the quality of the school.

I would prefer that problem be addressed in a separate bill, but Ashfat Bridal-esque schools like the one I almost applied to should be less of a problem as long as everyone's being transparent about accreditation.

Would it be wrong to suppose that those in charge of determining accreditation already have accountability standards?

Its not that there is a problem with the accreditation system for the pool of colleges that are beyond the initial category of diploma mills. It is that accreditation by definition doesn't capture the situation since that merely deals with academic standards. The degrees themselves may very well be legit in and of themselves, the problem is that you have what amounts to predatory lending being encouraged for the sake of getting such a degree, the job and wage prospects for which do not match the debt load being incurred. This encourages the system to raise tuition because it will always be paid upfront to the college via said loans and to keep encouraging the accumulation of debt to cover such ever rising tuition costs.

That said you do have accredited institutions now starting to offer more and more lower quality degrees as well to milk the above gravy train for all its worth.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye FTR