Sequoia University was an unaccredited higher education institution in Los Angeles, California, which acquired a reputation as a prolific "degree mill" selling degree certificates. Although it was shut down in 1984 by a court order, it is most notable today as the institution from which Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard obtained an honorary "Doctorate of Philosophy" in the 1950s.
In 2009, the British government released a series of documents from the California Department of Education stating that Sequoia was never approved nor recognized as a school.[1]