Archive for the ‘Diploma Mills’ Category

Online Degrees

Students who are willing to pursue their graduation and post graduation courses but are not in a position to study in a regular college due to various other commitments, consider online education as a boon to achieve their goal of completing college education. These are distance learning education which help them attend to classes at the time and place of their convenience. The earning capacity of an individual who has completed graduation is much more than the one who has completed his high school. Hence those who wish to study their graduation can right away do it with the help of accredited institutions and universities over the net. A number of variety courses are offered over the net offering wide choice of learning to aspiring students.

Best Accredited Online Degrees

Before choosing to join any real time educational course it is important to verify the reliability of the institution and the courses offered by them. There are a number of predatory agencies who make money out of the genuine need of students to study, where both time and money is wasted for no reason what so ever. Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure the institution is accredited with either a state or central organization.

A search over the net will let you know whether the institution or university of your choice is accredited and the courses offered have a valid recognition. In order to avoid scams and diploma mills from spoiling your educational dream, it is important that you conduct in depth research before investing any money.

The US department of education provides a list of accredited institutions that provide distance graduate and post graduate learning over the net. In addition to this a number of state organizations recognize certain online colleges and universities and certified by them for recognition and validity.

Yes, diploma mill does exist in real life. Theoretically speaking, diploma mill is higher education institution operating without state supervision. The diplomas offered by diploma mill are fraudulent in nature. Therefore, there is not much of a surprise that these diplomas are not accepted by majority of companies and universities. If you are interested in taking admission at higher education level or looking for a new job, make sure that you earn a diploma from an accredited institute.

Diploma Mills:

Diploma Mills are basically fraudulent universities that provide potential students diplomas or degrees without any sort of study. To get diploma or degree from these fraudulent universities, all you need to do is to send them money through demand draft or bank transfer. The significant factor here is that you do not need to attend classes in order to earn a degree or a diploma from these fraudulent universities.

Media Coverage:

There has been quite a bit of media coverage regarding diploma mills in both print and electronic media in the last six months. Among other routines, it’s the responsibility of the Office of Degree Authorization to terminate fraudulent degree activities.

Operation:

Recent study has come to the conclusion that most of the diploma mills operate with the help of Internet while hiding their true identities. Before taking admission in any degree program, make sure that you check the accreditation of the institute first. If the institute you have opted for is not accredited, there is a strong possibility that you are dealing with the diploma mill.

Why are Diploma Mills a problem?

Diploma Mills are basically fraud, whose main objective is to make money while offering no service. There are plenty of them that devalue college degrees by offering degrees to students without any sort of study. Because of this, value of accredited degrees also suffers and employers start rejecting job application of students who have earned an online degree.

Legality:

Diploma Mills are not given a legal status by any of the US States. However, there are some US States that allow almost any individual to operate a university without getting accreditation from state authorities. It includes Idaho, Alabama, Hawaii, California, Montana, Mississippi and Wyoming. If the university you have opted for is a diploma mill, it is advisable that you contact the Office of Degree Authorization. It is worth mentioning in this regard that Office of Degree Authorization will investigate the whole situation and if your finding is correct, there is a strong possibility that they will stop the operation of a diploma mill.

Some people believe that all unaccredited universities are diploma mills. This is not true. There are lots of universities operating that are not accredited but the quality of their degree programs is in par with the traditional degree program. However, not being accredited in nature, it is recommended that you do not take admission in these universities as the degree you are going to earn is not going to help you in your career.

There is no doubt that diploma mills robbing people of money especially those who are looking to earn degree quickly so that they can get a job. The irony is that despite being charged hefty amount of money by the diploma mills, degree is of no use as it is not being accredited by the US Department of Education.

Identifying diploma mills:

• They normally charge huge amount of money in terms of tuition fee.
• Classes are not conducted on a regular basis.
• They do not put any sort of restriction on you. As a matter of fact, you are free to do anything.
• They promise that you will get degree quickly. It’s true that you can get degree whenever you want but sadly it’s just a piece of paper which has no real value.
• They change their address on a regular basis.
• In some cases, they write down in the prospectus the name of the fake accrediting agency. Taking this into account, it is advisable that you get full details of the accrediting agency before taking admission.
• They do not offer any sort of practical training to their students.
• They do not have any website.
• They change phone number and e-mail address on a regular basis.

Stay away from diploma mills:

For the sake of your career and financial well being, make sure that you stay away from diploma mills. Instead of relying on short-cut, take admission in an accredited online degree program and study hard. When you study honestly, your knowledge base is going to increase tremendously. This will go a long way in helping you secure a job and also get an admission into the higher education level.

Earning degree quickly:

Majority of students go for diploma mills because they want to earn degree quickly. If you want to earn degree quickly, you have an option of going for an accelerated degree program. But before you do that, analyze carefully how much time you can devote to your studies. If you cannot devote three hours a day, don’t opt for accelerated degree program.

Everybody is interested in getting into Online GED Program. But finding a right kind of online GED program is not that easy especially with so many fake diploma websites in the fray. When you type ‘Online GED Program’ in search engines like Google and MSN, you will find thousands of websites claiming that you can get a GED Online in just one week or a one month. Stay away from such websites because their only objective is to earn some easy money from you.

Bogus high school diploma

Lots of students have been a victim of such websites. Generally speaking, they charge you anything in around $300-$500, and will send you some papers and a Bogus High School Diploma. The significant factor here is that the high school diploma send by these people are not accredited by any of the educational board. Therefore, when you apply for a job or an admission for bachelor degree with this diploma, your application is going to be rejected.

Choosing a real online GED program

• There are tight guidelines being set for the GED by The American Council on Education. The GED test consists of mathematics, science, language, arts and social studies. If the online GED program you have opted for does not include any of these subjects, it clearly means that the program is not accredited in nature.
• You will find GED practice tests in number of websites. It is an excellent method to prepare for an actual GED test. But point to be noted here is that you cannot give the actual GED test in these websites. You can only give GED test at official websites. Therefore, stay away from companies that claim to offer the official GED test.
• Before paying fee for Online GED Program, make sure that you read the fine print carefully. When you read fine print, you will get to know what school is offering at what price. If you think price does not match the service, there is a good chance that you are taking admission in a school which offers fake diploma. Don’t take admission in these schools as there diploma is not going to help you in your academic and professional life.
• If any of your friends or family members has recently opted for online GED program, you can take their assistance. In addition, also take the help of your previous teachers. Often, they are aware of the schools that runs accredited online GED program. Take your time when deciding on online GED program rather than taking decision in a hurry.
• Stay away from online schools that give diploma straightaway once you clear an exam. The GED test normally takes around seven to eight hours but when the school is ready to give you diploma after just two or three hour it clearly gives you a signal that the diploma is not accredited. Contact your state Department of Education immediately and check out the credential of the school.

A diploma mill can be termed as a business where people makes money by calling themselves as a legitimate university or a college. These fraudulent degree providers will give all kinds of degrees to students, right from associate degree to master’s degree without taking into consideration their academic performances. In some cases, they also offer doctoral degrees, which is the highest education level one can achieve. Diploma mills sell printed degrees and offer academic references to students who are interested in buying degrees. What’s more, some of them also allow students to buy academic honors.

Customers:

A diploma mill normally has two kinds of customers:

• First one in the list is customers that are looking for a genuine academic degree but do not know anything about the fact that they are registering.
• Secondly, there are customers who know fully well that they are doing fraud. These kinds of customers are interested in building their academic profile quickly so that they can get a new job and go for a more advanced degree program.

Diploma mills routines:

Online education is quite a new thing to number of educational organizations, with most of them constantly developing and modifying its syllabus in order to make sure that students do not miss anything important. With new degree programs coming into fray on a regular basis, it’s very easy for someone to come up with a website that gives an impression of a legitimate college.
Unfortunately, the World Wide Web can be an ideal location where scams can target students. If the website of a diploma mill is designed properly with a right kind of writing and good images, students will not be able to detect that the degrees they are offering is fake. After all, registering a website with .edu extension is quite a straightforward affair. Establishing such mill is quite easy. You just need a decent quality color printer, e-mail address, phone number and a properly designed website to accomplish this task.

Kinds of Diploma Mills:

They are of two kinds. The one that provide below standard, specious courses and another that just sell you a degree copy with your name and address on it.

Identifying the scam:

• Nine out of ten times, diploma mills have names identical to famous universities. Only difference being that you will not find accreditation details.
• They changes addresses on a regular basis. In some cases, they also relocate from one state to another.
• The written material will have plenty of grammatical errors. Surprisingly, you will find spelling and grammatical errors in diploma too.
• Mostly they will give students a promise of earning degree more quickly. Sometimes they will offer you degree in less than 27 days. In some cases, they will provide degree with specific backdate printed.
• When it comes to admission in diploma mills, you do not need to give any sort of entrance examination or interviews.