Many jobs don’t check. Many people do get away with fake degrees or even lying out right.

That said, many people do get caught and it’s usually at the worst possible time. It comes when they get some sort of recognition or award or promotion. The usual result is public embarrassment (a newspaper story about how John Doe lied about his education) and immediate dismissal.

There are a couple states that have laws about this. Oregon is pretty strict. Many states are following their lead. In those cases, the worst thing that can happen is you go to jail for fraud. I’d not want to explain to my new jail buddies that my crime was lying about going to college…

Seems to me, it’s just not worth it. Besides, I’ve learned a lot of cool stuff in college over the years – way more than I paid for.

A lot of employers don’t check references or check other details on people’s resumes. However, if you commit fraud, which these friends of yours have done, you open yourself up to lawsuits, and also to the risk of being fired without severance pay. The other thing is that a lot of jobs really do require a college education, and not just a college degree. If you really learned anything in college, it should help you do your job better and get promotions. You also hopefully enriched your own life with the knowledge you gained there.

It depends on the job. If you’re applying for a job as an accountant, an employer will probably contact your references to make sure you have the skills you say you have. But other jobs (sales and middle management) may have such high turn-over, they don’t care about actual qualifications- they just need employees.

A college degree is SO MUCH MORE than the job you land at the end. You can think, reason, read, and assess in ways that those idiots with fake degrees can never do. Work for companies that you respect and that will value your effort and achievements.

You should value your education. First of all, at least YOU know you’re being honest about it. Second of all, sooner or later, the fakers who paid for a fake transcript will sooner or later be found out or at least look really dumb because they have an “education” but don’t know what the heck they’re doing! Also, I’ve heard of a CEO of a company being caught in a lie–saying he had a college degree when he really didn’t–and his company forced him to resign and then sent notices out to all the agencies they do business with telling them that he had a fake diploma! How humiliating for him! He’ll probably never be able to find a decent job again!

Yes, more and more. And there are more and more private companies that are doing background checks for this, so it is a boom industry. They typically check college graduation, previous employment, and criminal background. They typically do this for new hires, and will soon enough get around to checking all employees as it becomes a standard part of ‘due diligence’ in hiring. The company can be held responsible for your actions if you misrepresent yourself and screw up and they should have known. Basically it is fraud, though I doubt anything other than getting fired will happen.

If you get caught you will be terminated for cause, that the next job that checks up on you will find that out.

I can’t say all of them do, but the majority of them absolutely do a background check on your education (especially the ones who you actually want to work for, who are worth anything). I work in a records office at a university and we process hundreds of verfications a day from employers. They’ll get busted one day, and your education will be worth it.

Hmm… those people may be able to cheat the system and fake their transcripts, but they won’t be able to fake their intelligence. Let’s say you both get the exact same job… You will most likely do better and get promotions based off of simple foundations of math, writing, and communication skills, whereas the other person doesnt even have that level of education.

They should and they do. I know that I do in order to present credible information about the people who work with me in the business of music.