ABSTRACT
In most states it is perfectly legal to present as a credential a degree that is purchased for a few hundred dollars online or through the mail, and that involves little or no real academic work. Even the US government until recently failed to check where so-called degrees were from. The widely held belief that everyone who is worth anything should go to college is simply wrong. The result of that peculiar notion is that we are awash in degrees that mean less and less, and degree programs that get longer and longer and produce more layers of paper credentials. Clifford Adelman, a senior research analyst in the Education Department, and others have correctly noted that there is at least one countervailing trend: professional certification in high-tech fields. College and government leaders concerned with the future of higher education should think very carefully about the purpose of each degree program.
