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
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... Education Foundation, as well as for other schools later determined to be diploma mills, including Monticello University (aka "Thomas Jefferson University"), a school begun ...
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... The school has been called a diploma mill by Allen Ezell, a retired FBI agent who co-authored the book "Degree Mills" ... 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 ...
... have a federal law that would unambiguously prohibit diploma mills, and the term "university" is not legally protected on a national level ... education 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 ...
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“This is a red wine glass. Can I get my water in a water glass, please?”
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