How can I tell if an institution is a “Diploma Mill”?

Detecting ‘diploma mills’ can be difficult, but fraudulent post secondary and tertiary institutions generally exhibit common features. Here’s what to look out for:

• names that are similar to those of well-known colleges or universities;
• declaration of accreditation from ‘bogus’ or un-recognised accrediting bodies;
• frequent changes of address or administrative offices housed in rented mailboxes;
• contact is by e-mails only;
• written material with spelling and grammatical errors (sometimes on the diploma itself), as well as brochures, websites and documents with pretentious language;
• overemphasis on the affordability and the impact a degree will have on job prospects;
• little or no selectivity in admissions, often advertising their ‘open door’ policy;
• very limited or even no interaction with professors;
• degree requirements that are few and often unspecified;
• degrees that can be earned over a much shorter period of time than conventional institutions; some degrees may be advertised for completion in just a few months, weeks or even days;
• tuition and fees that are often advertised on a per-degree basis. For example, students may be offered a discount for enrolling in several degree programmes at once; provisions may even be made for the institution to deduct monthly payments from an individual's bank account.