What an all-America success story. After only one year at Spokane Community College, Richard John Novak went to work selling cars. Practically overnight, though, he had doctorates in international business, educational administration and psychology.

Or so claimed the Web site of Saint Regis University.

Trouble is, federal authorities say Saint Regis is part of an international scheme that peddles bogus college degrees to online buyers who want the credentials but don’t want to put any more work into them than “Dr.” Novak did.

Novak, for the record, pleaded guilty this month in Spokane to charges of conspiracy and violating the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He admitted paying more than $43,000 in bribes to Liberian diplomats who would see to it that their country accredited Saint Regis. The funds came from the bank account of a Spokane County couple, Dixie and Stephen Randock, of Colbert, who operate Saint Regis. They and seven co-defendants are scheduled to go on trial in December on federal bribery charges.

Diploma mills are big business, and the feds consider Spokane a center for one of the biggest. Authorities contend Saint Regis has taken in some $4.7 million for about 6,000 college degrees, 40 percent of them going to foreign residents who want to enter the United States. College graduates receive special consideration under U.S. immigration rules.

It was a noteworthy milestone, then, when Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a bill making it a Class C felony to knowingly award phony academic credentials – and a gross misdemeanor to knowingly use them. The governor’s action Monday was a legislative victory for state Sen. Mark Schoesler, a Ritzville Republican who’s spent the past two years going after diploma mills.

Even setting foreign intrigue aside, no-effort academic credentials are a problem. In a global economy that puts an increasing premium on knowledge and information, educational qualifications are critical. Those who present themselves on paper as something that they can’t substantiate in reality are undermining state and national competitiveness. They are claiming an unearned advantage over more forthright job-seekers, and they are defrauding employers and consumers.

But as the drama unfolding in federal court in Eastern Washington shows, they also are part of a scheme that poses a national security threat.

By attaching criminal consequences to both the buyers and sellers of fraudulent degrees, Schoesler’s legislation doubles the chance of discouraging such illicit trade.

A legitimate education takes personal sacrifice, and when the time, money and work have been invested, the student is entitled to have a degree that means something.