A degree or diploma mill is an institution, which awards degrees without fulfilling the requirements of the standards of education. Such institutions are not recognized by any concerned authority and their main purpose is to make money by selling the substandard and unaccredited degrees. According to the dictionary definition, a degree or diploma mill is “an institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or, because of the lack of proper standards, worthless." In more detailed perspective, a degree or diploma mill also points to ‘an institution that operates in a routine way or turns out products in the manner of a factory’.


There are some common attributes of these organizations described as under and may also be helpful guidelines to avoid such fake and worthless institutions.

First, the diploma mills usually use trade names similar to those of the reputed and well-known institutions of the world just to attract people. Actually they don’t have any relation with those institutions. Their aim is to beguile people about their credibility. Second, the diploma mills make high claims about their accreditation but accreditating bodies quoted in their advertisements are dummy organizations having no approval by the concerned authorities. In order to attract the potential students, these baseless accreditating bodies develop their websites similar in appearance to that of the well-known accrediting agencies. Third, some diploma mills also claim to have international recognition by the organizations like UNESCO. In reality, UNESCO or any organization like that does not have any authority to extend accreditation to the degrees of any institution. Fourth, the diploma mills scarcely demand any pre-requisite for their courses of studies. They sometimes even offer to buy degrees from them. Five, some diploma mills pose to run academic processes by selling textbooks, holding tests etc but the real purpose of this exercise is to sell degree or diploma against money. Six, some diploma mills offer degrees or diplomas against one’s life experience, which is categorically against the educational traditions. They also offer degrees and diplomas if somebody has completed courses of studies by himself or from other college or university. But it should be kept in mind that such degrees and diplomas have no academic value.

The degrees or diplomas obtained by the degree mills are used for fraudulent purposes only because otherwise these credentials have no legal importance. Some of the notorious diploma or degrees mills are Columbia State University, Louisiana, La Salle University, Louisiana, Chadwick University, Alabama, the American Institute of Computer Science, Clayton College of Natural Health, American State University, Hawaii, City University of Los Angeles, California, and Trinity College and University.

The Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary Indiana has the enrollment of almost 7,000 students around the globe. This institution is running distance learning education programmes and awaiting accreditation from the concerned authorities. So far as the institute claims to have accreditation from the National Association of Private Nontraditional, which is, itself does not any recognition.