Now Introducing High School Diploma Mills

Most people tend to think that diploma mills refer to only colleges that give out worthless accreditations. Well, in a society where a high school graduate can earn 64 percent more than a non-graduate, scammers have stepped in to squeeze money out of kids who need a GED, too.

In September, the FTC filed a complaint alleging that Jefferson High School Online and Enterprise High School Online sold diplomas for $200-300. The students would take a multiple-choice test and that would be the end of their schooling at that particular institution. Not surprisingly, the military and colleges were not impressed with those diplomas, and the desperate students got nothing for their money. The schools had been pulling this trick since 2006, and had made off with $11,117,800. At that point, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi had received 100 complaints about them and decided to sue. A temporary restraining order was applied to the companies. Once the restraining order ends, the FTC plans on asking for another one, according to an attorney working for them.

The sad thing about high school diploma mills is that they prey on people who have little experience with what a legitimate diploma would entail. According to Jonathan Kozol and other education researchers, poorer kids tend to attend schools that do a lot of rote memorization. They might really expect a multiple-choice test to be all they need to earn a degree, or be desperate enough to really hope that will work. These diploma mills pick the pockets of the people who most need a higher education. It’s a loss for businesses hiring high-school graduates as well, as it means that people lacking in basic schooling are applying to positions along with people who are qualified.

If your company needs to find out if recent applicants got their diplomas from one of these mills, contact us and we will find out for you.