Understanding Legitimate Institutions and Accrediting Bodies

The Colorado Department of Higher Education defines degree or diploma mills and accreditation mills as follows:

• Degree/Diploma Mills are organizations whose only purpose is to take your money. They are "dubious providers of educational offerings or operations that offer certificates and degrees that are considered bogus."
• Accreditation mills are "dubious providers of accreditation and quality assurance or operations that offer a certification of quality of institutions that is considered bogus."

To guide your identification of a mill, the Council of Higher Education developed a series of questions to help determine whether an institution is a diploma/degree mill or an accreditation mill. The questions are as follows:

Diploma/Degree Mills

• Can degrees be purchased?
• Is there a claim of accreditation when there is no evidence of this status?
• Is there a claim of accreditation from a questionable accrediting organization?
• Does this operation lack state or federal licensure or authority to operate?
• Is little, if any, attendance required of students?
• Are few assignments required for students to earn credits?
• Is a very short period of time required to earn a degree?
• Are degrees available based solely on experience or resume review?
• Are there few requirements for graduation?
• Does the operation charge very high fees as compared with average fees charged by higher education institutions?
• Alternatively, is the fee so low that it does not appear to be related to the cost of providing legitimate education?
• Does the operation fail to provide any information about a campus or business location or address and rely, e.g., only on a post office box?
• Does the operation fail to provide a list of its faculty and their qualifications?
• Does the operation have a name similar to other well-known colleges and universities?
• Does the operation make claims in its publications for which there is no evidence?

Accreditation Mills

• Does the operation allow accredited status to be purchased?
• Does the operation publish lists of institutions or programs they claim to have accredited without institutions and programs knowing that they are listed or have been accredited?
• Are high fees for accreditation required as compared to average fees from accrediting organizations?
• Does the operation claim that it is recognized (by, e.g., USDE) when it is not?
• Are there few, if any, standards for quality published by the operation?
• Is a minimal period of time required to achieve accredited status?
• Are accreditation reviews routinely confined to submitting documents and do not include site visits or interviews of key personnel by the accrediting organization?
• Is "permanent" accreditation granted without any requirement for subsequent periodic review?
• Does the operation use organizational names similar to recognized accrediting organizations?
• Does the operation make claims in its publications for which there is no evidence?

If you answer "yes" to most questions in each case, students and the public need to take this matter seriously.