Articles On Information: Employers and Colleagues are Affected Too

Employers and Colleagues are Affected Too

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When individuals list their doctored credentials on resumes,
 sometimes this does get by the initial hiring procedures and people 
with diploma mill papers are hired. In the long run this hurts companies
 because these employees are sometimes not equipped with the knowledge 
or skills required to handle the job. Not to mention it's a waste of 
time during the hiring process.</div>
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Also, as a result, other potential and qualified job 
applicants lose out on the jobs to those who really did not earn their 
degrees through actual work. Colleagues are forced to pick up the slack 
for those not prepped for the job and employers end up wasting their 
resources on an employee not qualified for the job.</div>
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While many people who sign up for a diploma mill <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/Common_Mistakes_New_College_Students_Make" target="_blank">do not realize</a>
 at first they are not signing up for an accredited and/or legitimately 
recognized program, there are some people who do and go with it anyway. 
Speaking of accreditation, prospective students need to check these out 
too, as many diploma mills set up fake accreditation agencies (A.K.A. 
"Accreditation Mills").</div>
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Those who are truly interested in pursuing a legitimate 
online degree and are not sure how to avoid a diploma mill, it is 
important to learn how to differentiate. Basically, as the old adage 
states, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Diploma
 mills serve no good to anyone except the fraudsters behind the schemes,
 so to avoid them, the first step is to know what to look for and have a
 solid understanding about these schemers are about. Arming yourself 
with this information will help you avoid them when <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Prepare_for_a_College_Transfer" target="_blank">seeking a good degree program</a>.</div>
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Signs of a Diploma Mill</h3>
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When trying to identify a diploma mill there are a few areas you should look at:</div>
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<strong>Registration Procedures</strong></div>
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Does the school consider previous learning and is there a 
vetting process? Does the school ask you to send a check to a mailbox 
and promises a fast and easy degree? Or worse, does the school promise 
an immediate degree? If so, run the other way.</div>
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<strong>Time Invested in the Degree </strong></div>
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The road to higher learning is not a short cut and any 
school that promises fast and easy results is likely a scam. Even if 
nominal work is required, this still won't equate to a real degree 
program offered by an accredited college.</div>
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While there are some legitimate accelerated degrees, these 
are demanding and time consuming, if only for the short-term. Diploma 
mills, on the other hand, offer degrees in short periods of time, low 
levels of work and don't demand many, if any, requirements to be met.</div>
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<strong>Contact Information</strong></div>
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Is it difficult to see who is running the school? Is the 
information provided to interested learners vague and using the 
aforementioned P.O. Box? This is a definite red flag and a probability 
someone is looking to take your money without providing you with an 
education.</div>
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<strong>Pricing</strong></div>
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There is a definitive range of tuition and fee scales 
charged by colleges, but if a relatively unheard of school charges fees 
that are either too high or too low, this is another red flag and should
 immediately trigger more investigation before registering.</div>
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<strong>Name of University</strong></div>
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Another warning sign is if the school's name is very closely
 aligned with a legitimate school. Often diploma mills will try and 
mimic real schools to confuse potential students and trick them into 
investing into their fake programs.</div>
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<strong>Ability to Back up Claims</strong></div>
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Most diploma mills are cloaked in secrecy, do not offer 
faculty lists or other informative publications. Instead they focus on 
the idea of an easy education and, of course the biggest priority - 
collecting tuition and fees. Discussing educational quality is probably 
pretty low on the list, if they are <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Deal_with_Unhelpful_College_Professors" target="_blank">helpful in this area at all</a>.</div>
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U.S. Government Takes Action</h3>
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In January 2010 United States introduced the Diploma and Accreditation Integrity Protection Act.</div>
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<em>"The bill’s purpose is to reduce and prevent 
the sale and use of fraudulent degrees in order to protect the integrity
 of valid higher education degrees that are used for Federal employment 
purposes". <sup>2</sup></em><br />

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Many in higher education are applauding this bill for making
 a strong move to eliminate diploma mills which don't do anyone any good
 except those getting their pockets lined with the cash made from 
selling degrees.</div>
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The problem is when one of these "schools" get caught, they 
end up shifting outside of the United States, such as the case with the 
formerly Wyoming-based "Hamilton University" which simply moved to the 
Bahamas, where it is difficult to get the operation shut down. <sup>4</sup>
 And this isn't the only example. Take "Commonwealth Open University", 
which in 2012 was a "school" registered in the British Virgin Islands. 
Many college professors and U.S. government workers obtained their 
degrees from this diploma mill, some of them at taxpayer expense. These 
are just two, there are many other fraudulent schools out there, as it's
 a billion dollar industry. <sup>5</sup></div>
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The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland shares more signs to look out for when investigating online schools</div>
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Obtaining a diploma mill degree is really useless. Sure the 
credentials might appear to be there, but many employers are savvy and 
typically know which schools are accredited and which are not. Even if 
an employer does not pick up on an illegal and / or fraudulent degree 
right away, in the long run people do themselves an injustice. The 
bottom line is they did not earn the degree.  More often than not 
falsifying knowledge and /or skills on a <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/Turn_Your_Life_Experience_Into_A_Great_Resume" target="_blank">resume</a>
 leads to a bad ending. Either the fraud is detected or the person with 
the falsified credentials finds he or she does not have the ability to 
handle what is being asked to do on the job.</div>
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Diploma mills serve no good to anyone except the fraudsters 
behind the schemes. However, knowing what to look for and having a 
strong understanding about what diploma mills are about will help you 
avoid them when seeking schools to obtain <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/College_What_to_Do_if_You_Dont_Know_Which_Major_to_Choose" target="_blank">higher education</a>.</div>
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What to look for
 in terms of accreditation as it has a specific meaning, some mills 
substitute other convincing language, but  it still does not mean they 
are legitimately accredited.</div>
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