A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on construed life experience. Some such organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity.
While the terms "degree mill" and "diploma mill" are commonly used interchangeably, within the academic community a distinction is sometimes drawn:
- A "degree mill" issues "real" diplomas from unaccredited "universities", which may be legal in some states but are generally illegitimate universities.
- A "diploma mill" issues counterfeit diplomas which bear the names of legitimate universities.
Medical diploma mills have operated, and have been blacklisted, in the United States for over 120 years.
Read more about Diploma Mill: Common Attributes of Diploma Mills, Characteristics, Legal Considerations
Other articles related to "diploma mill, diploma mills, mills, mill":
... Education Foundation, as well as for other schools later determined to be diploma mills, including Monticello University (aka "Thomas Jefferson University"), a school ...
... The school has been called a diploma mill by Allen Ezell, a retired FBI agent who co-authored the book "Degree Mills" ... as an unrecognized accreditation organization or accreditation mill ... But Concordia College and University is a diploma mill that offers degrees in as little turnaround time as 12 hours." The article noted, "The fake Concordia College and University admonishes Web surfers to 'be ...
... The United States does not have a federal law that would unambiguously prohibit diploma mills, and the term "university" is not legally protected on a national level ... and alerts United States' consumers about diploma mills by delineating some tell-tale signs in its official web page ... Some degree mills have taken advantage of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by representing themselves as seminaries, since in many jurisdictions religious ...
1998, The Irish Times discussed Columbus in an article, "A dirty dozen - 12 famous diploma mills." After state legislation was revised to require licensing, Columbus ... was revoked and the school was closed down by the state of Louisiana as an illegal diploma mill Subsequently, Columbus relocated to Mississippi. 2010, WWL-TV in New Orleans reported that the FBI was investigating Columbus University as a diploma mill, and had recently raided the Columbus operations located in a duplex in ...
Famous quotes containing the words mill and/or diploma:
“A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself.”
—John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)
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