What diploma mills are not

Diploma mills are not organizations that: * are accredited by one of the regional accrediting agencies; * are schools with one, infrequently changed address, website, and phone number; * require a well-documented and widely published admissions process that normally does not allow student admissions at the last minute with unbelievable offers; * offer courses and programs that can only be completed in what most would think is a reasonable period of time, based on some established criterion such as the course/Carnegie Unit; * permit, offer, and encourage interaction among students and between students and easily identified faculty; * have a clearly established and rigorously followed process of faculty oversight of the curriculum, usually by a curriculum committee; * rarely, if ever, provide course credit for life experiences, or work-place responsibilities; * review the credentials of instructors and permit only those to teach whose qualifications have been carefully screened; and * establish a brand, a visibility, even a prestigious reputation in the academy of similar institutions.