110 offices selling forged degrees from non-Saudi universities have been identified by the Ministry of Higher Education. Prices for a fake bachelor’s or master’s degree can cost anywhere from SR3,000 to SR30,000 while a bogus doctorate can cost up to SR90,000 from an institution in the west. The degrees supplied by these diploma mills are issued by institutions that offer courses without approved standards or are simply issued by the transfer of money into an overseas account. Measures have been taken to detect such agencies.

Saudi graduates are reportedly growing frustrated with the increasing number of relatives and family members of university presidents and officials granted roles at the institutions. Saudi Gazette cited documents from one university showing at least eight relatives of the president holding academic roles. “It was very easy to find out the appointment of family members as academic staff from their names. This has irked university graduates who do not find jobs,” a source told the publication.

Last year 68 Emiratis were blacklisted from the US for buying qualifications from online "degree mills". Authorities at the time said that those caught using fake degrees could be punished with up to 24 years in prison. However, the problem persists. It is suspected that although the university is registered as a company in the US, the operations were in the Dubai, from where they send fake qualifications around the world