Audit finds N.D. university awarded unearned degrees

BISMARCK, N.D. — Lax recordkeeping and oversight at Dickinson State University resulted in hundreds of degrees being awarded to students who didn't finish their course work, according to an audit made public Friday.

Others enrolled who couldn't speak English or hadn't achieved the "C" average normally required for admission.

The report depicts Dickinson State as a diploma mill for foreign students, most of whom were Chinese. Of 410 foreign students who have received four-year degrees since 2003 — most of them in the past four years — 400 did not fulfill all the graduation requirements, it said.

The report raises questions about whether public universities, strapped for cash at a time of sharply declining state support for higher education, are cutting corners to attract foreign students who typically pay full out-of-state tuition. It also comes amid an unprecedented boom in the number of Chinese students studying at U.S. universities.

Dickinson State could face penalties from federal agencies and the Higher Learning Commission in Chicago, an accreditation agency, the report said.

"We will be telling (the affected students) that their records do not indicate they sufficiently completed the requirements," Dickinson State's new president, D.C. Coston, said at a news conference. "Dickinson State stands ready to work with them individually to figure out what might be necessary for them to reach a point of completion."