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(Washington, DC) – The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has sent a letter to the Governors, Attorneys General and Secretaries of Education of all 50 states, as part of CHEA’s ongoing effort to combat degree mills.

"Degree mills – rogue providers of higher education – undermine the value of legitimate colleges and universities in your state as well as other states," CHEA President Judith Eaton said in the letter. "Mills reduce the value of degrees that are awarded. Mills and their fraudulent credentials threaten public safety, especially when fake degrees are offered in such vital areas as health and engineering."

Eaton also noted that degree mills, from time to time, create "accreditation mills," attempting to convince prospective students that these operations have received affirmations of academic quality, without the thorough and painstaking review undertaken by legitimate accrediting organizations.

A number of states already have legislation that makes it difficult for degree mills to operate or does not allow the use of unaccredited or fraudulent degrees. The purpose of CHEA’s letter is to urge that states take additional action, as needed, to discourage and ultimately eliminate fraudulent providers of higher education.

In the letter, CHEA specifically recommends that states:

• Consider, if they have not done so, establishing or strengthening definitions in state law for "degree mill" and "accreditation mill."
• Take, as needed, additional legislative and regulatory steps to discourage or eliminate use of fraudulent credentials issued by degree mills.
• Work with CHEA, other states and other organizations to continue the fight against degree mills and accreditation mills, to enhance public awareness and understanding of these destructive providers.

Eaton pointed out that "The recently passed Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 contains the first federal definition of degree mills and requires ongoing action from the U.S. Department of Education to educate the public about this problem. While we understand that the various states address such issues independently from the federal government, the new federal definition may be useful to consider when developing future state initiatives."

CHEA actively combats degree mills through public education and works with federal and state government officials to promote laws and regulations that will discourage or eliminate the operation of these rogue providers of education or accreditation. CHEA maintains a database listing more than 7,000 degree-granting and non-degree-granting institutions, over 17,500 accredited programs and 80 recognized institutional and programmatic accreditors. The database – which is available on CHEA’s Website at http://www.chea.org/search/default.asp – is designed to assist federal and state government agencies as well as individual consumers in identifying fully accredited programs and institutions and avoiding degree mills. Additional information including "Suggestions for Effective Practice" in combating site-based and distance-based degree mills also can be found on CHEA’s Website.

Commenting on the letter to states and other activities, Eaton concluded "CHEA stands ready to work with officials at the federal and state government level to put new tools in place to help weed out degree mills and bogus academic credentials. Working together, we can be effective in reducing or eliminating degree mills and accreditation mills in the United States and internationally."

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A national advocate and institutional voice for self-regulation of academic quality through accreditation, CHEA is an association of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities and recognizes 60 institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations. For more information, visit CHEA’s Website at www.chea.org.