One of the great dangers for prospective students in the online education space is becoming interested or even enrolling in schools which are not regionally accredited and who offer unaccredited degrees. They are more prevalent than you think. The prevalence of web based education today has given rise to an enormous market for these fraudulent “diploma mills.” And this is personal … I even have family members who have enrolled in these types of schools.
Wikipedia defines “Diploma Mills” as: A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is an organization that claims to award academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study, and without recognition by official accrediting bodies. These degrees are often awarded based on life experience. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines a diploma mill as “An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or, because of the lack of proper standards, worthless.”[1] Such organizations are unaccredited, although some claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved organizations set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity. Although diploma mills are unaccredited, lack of educational accreditation does not necessarily indicate that an institution is a diploma mill.
Let me just shoot straight. If you receive a degree from one of these institutions it is like putting a time bomb in your resume. It will come back to bite you. Do your homework and don’t be tempted to take any shortcuts.