What Is a Diploma Mill?
A diploma mill is an educational institution that has not received accreditation from an accrediting agency. These types of degree programs are essentially fraudulent and worthless. Additional types of diploma mills consist of organizations that lack official accrediting recognition, and often claim accreditation through unapproved organizations in an attempt to appear legitimate. Diploma mills can sometimes be identified by: • Name: Schools often try to choose names similar to more established/reputable colleges and universities, capitalizing on prospective students’ confusion and or lack of awareness. • Cost/Time: Diploma mills often advertise the completion of degree programs for significantly lower costs and/or time than other similar establishments. • Affiliate Accrediting Organization: Diploma mills often create affiliate organizations simply for the purpose of accrediting themselves to appear like a true educational institution. Like diploma mills, accreditation mills also exist
The Higher Education Opportunity Act defines a diploma mill as follows: DIPLOMA MILL- The term `diploma mill’ means an entity that– (A)(i) offers, for a fee, degrees, diplomas, or certificates, that may be used to represent to the general public that the individual possessing such a degree, diploma, or certificate has completed a program of postsecondary education or training; and (ii) requires such individual to complete little or no education or coursework to obtain such degree, diploma, or certificate; and (B) lacks accreditation by an accrediting agency or association that is recognized as an accrediting agency or association of institutions of higher education (as such term is defined in section 102) by– (i) the Secretary pursuant to subpart 2 of part H of title IV; or (ii) a Federal agency, State government, or other organization or association that recognizes accrediting agencies or associations. The dictionary defines a diploma mill as: An institution of higher education oper
According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a diploma mill is an institution of higher education operating without the supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are, either fraudulent or because of the lack of proper standards, worthless. “Earn a bachelor’s degree in less than 5 weeks!” No doubt you’ve received piles upon piles of these advertisements in your mailbox, and unlike others, you might just have been smart enough to ignore them. The truth is 90% of these amazing, too-good-to-be-true offers are, well, just that. The majority of these are what we have come to call “diploma mills”. In the recent years, diploma mills have become a major source of fraud within the work industry. It is no coincidence that the flourishing of these businesses has coincided with the decision of many legitimate US universities to offer accredited coursework online. With long distance education becoming increasingly prevalent in our society, mail-ordered d
A diploma mill is a company which essentially sells academic degrees to its customers. “Graduates” of the institution complete little or no coursework for their degrees, and typically they never visit a physical site in the course of their relationship with the organization, because the diploma mill lacks a campus. Diploma mills are viewed as problematic for many reasons, not least of which is that people use diploma mill degrees on resumes to suggest that they have college educations and experience, when this is not, in fact, the case. Several characteristics distinguish a diploma mill from a legitimate college or university. The first is location. Diploma mills offer online and mail order degrees exclusively, without any opportunity to visit a campus or meet faculty. Many diploma mills are literally run out of a post office box, with no physical facility at all. Typically these companies also push speed when it comes to degree granting, encouraging people to sign up quickly and pushi
A diploma or degree mill is an entity that sells postsecondary credentials without requiring appropriate academic achievement. In many jurisdictions inside and outside the United States, diploma mills are illegal. These scam operations can be difficult to trace because they usually use mail drops and multiple addresses. Numerous degree mills operate on the Internet, where they often masquerade as institutions of distance learning. Legitimate distance-learning providers are recognized in the countries where they are located, and their status can be verified by contacting the relevant educational authorities. Academic credential evaluators should be suspicious of documents issued by universities with addresses that are office suites or box numbers that cannot be verified in any authoritative independent publication. Most degree mills also claim accreditation by one or more fictitious national, international, worldwide or global accrediting agencies. Verifying the existence and status of
