How to recognize diploma mills abd degree mills

Once you’ve made up your mind to continue your education online, you already know it is an important decision. It is very critical though, that you conduct a proper and thourough research in order to get the most out of your online education. In this blog post I’m giving you a few tips and advisories to help get you started off just fine.

Check an online college / online university for proper accreditation

The first thing you should look at when you decide to get an online course or degree program with an online coillege or online university is their accreditation. You should know that more then several, so called “diploma mills” or “degree mills” are there to claim to be accredited but upon closer inspection, you will find that many of those are not accredited at all or accredited by a company that has been set up by the online college or online university itself in order to claim a level of legitimacy to its courses and programs. Be very aware and diligent in contacting the online college or university, asking for proof of their accreditation and legitimacy. Don't be afraid to get in touch with the accreditation awarding body in order to verify that what the online learning insitution claims is in fact the truth. Quite a lot diploma mills / degree mills don’t expect prospective students to actually  conduct due diligence and background research on them, so this can be to your very own advantage. The United States Department of Education (DoE) maintains a website on which they list all recognized awarding accreditation bodies and the Distance Education Council (DEC) will be very willing to help you to verify a particular college's or university’s accreditation.

The degree program instructor, is he suitable?

Examine the course catalogue of the respective online colleges / universities with a detailed eye in order to get a sense of what kind of programs they have on offer. In their rush to monetize on the explosion in the global online education business, more then a few colleges and universities, mostly the “disputed” one’s, will have diploma and degree programs on offer in areas prior to being a reputable or experience faculty. Does the instructor / professor actually have any professional and academic experience in the field that he or she teaches? Don’t feel afraid to contact the college / academy / university or the instructor directly and ask them for more information. You may also cross check this information accordingly. This should be able to help you in getting a better, more solid sense of what the institution and its instructors are like, whether you trust them anough to attach yourself to one of their courses or online degree programs.

Red alerts signs of diploma mills

Now let’s talk about red alerts. One of the best, and most obvious indications that an online university is a degree mill (or diploma mill) is the following: Their admission fees and policies are too easy, too good to be true. Okay, there are many excellent online colleges with relaxed admission procedures but diploma mills are more then often just plainly interested in taking money from potential students as tuition or fees. If the college or university is makes it too easy to grant you credits based upon past courses or life experience without any form (or little) careful consideration... when the tuition fees are at such low rates that it really doesn’t compare to other similar programs on offer at other online colleges or universities... than that is usually a very clear sign that the online learning institution is best to be avoided!

Conclusion

While aiming to earn your college diploma or university degree online can be a very rewarding life experience that is certainly worth all the effort, it’s also quite important that you know what to look for when you choose an online college or university. Thorough background checks are vital because there are a lot of crooks out there who simply want your money and don’t care about anything else. Be aware and vigilent.