Online Educational medium is up for all wrong reasons these days. Students and professionals are duped by illegitimate diploma mills and phony degree programs that they are hardly in a position to differentiate between what is legitimate and what is not.

Diploma Mills Warning Signs

Friends! Considering the troubles faced by fellow students and aspiring professionals, who are often being cheated by these diploma mills and phony degree programs, here are a list of points to be kept in mind before proceeding to choose the course and university of your choice.

• The Department of Education releases a list of accredited universities and educational institutions both at the regional and national level. Ensure the institutions in your list find a place in it.
• Those institutions which are not recognized by the Department of Education will not be considered by the US Higher Education.
• Kindly set aside those universities and institutions whose claims are not reasonable. We know that an Associate degree program will take a minimum of 2 years to complete and Bachelors degree program a duration of not less than 3 years. While Masters Degree Program can be complete within a time frame of 3 years, a Doctorate program will take around 2 to 3 years. Those claims which promise to offer a degree for a period much less than these are fake degree courses or the so called Diploma mills.
• Advertisements offering you “Life Experience Degrees”, “Guaranteed Degree Certificates”, “Accredited Degree Courses”, “No GPA Scores Required”, “and Real Degree Programs” are only indicators of suspicion and not promise. Your duty is to check for the claims and ensure you have spotted the right degree program.

Learn to Spot a Phony Degree

• Phony degree programs are often so pleasing and assuring that you will hardly have a reason to doubt their legitimacy.
• The names used by these false degree programs resemble more of highly reputed institutions and more often than normal students get carried away by their names.
• Where an university or online educational institution offer degrees for a price, with no experience or even a minimum hours of study, be sure they are diploma mills and such phony degree though might be easier to procure will only result in wasting your time and money.
• If you think employers and universities will not be able to identify, whether the degree acquired by you is legitimate or not then you are entirely wrong. They can easily cross check the details furnished by you with the accredited list published by the US Department of Education.

Inspite of repeated warnings more and more diploma mills and phony degree programs continue coming up. Hence it is upto you students, to stay awake and ensure you do no fall prey to such dubious online institutions.