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Avoid diploma mills : the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008
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You may have read blogs and wiki's on the internet, many of them deliberately created by disgruntled students and recently laid-off professors, calling long lists of established and respected distance education institutions ''diploma mills''. Freedom of speech is our nation's most valuable asset but, in this era of job-loss crisis, also a much abused revenge tool.
Targeted institutions include the U.S.A.'s leading Walden University, the regionally accredited University of Phoenix, the U.S. Department of Education funded Capella University, and even Oxford University.
Fortunately since a few months, the U.S. Department of Education adopted its Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, clearly defining what exactly a ''diploma mill'' is and isn't. Page 10 of the Higher Education Opportunity Act reads:
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''The term 'diploma mill' means an entity that
(A) i. offers, for a fee, degrees, diplomas or certificates that may be used to represent to the general public that the individual possessing such a degree, diploma, or certificate has completed a program of postsecondary education or training
and
ii. requires such an individual to complete little or no education or coursework to obtain such degree, diploma, or certificate
and
(B) lacks accreditation by an accrediting agency or association that is recognized as an accrediting agency or association of institutions of higher education (as such term is defined in section 102) by:
i. the Secretary pursuant to subpart 2 of part H of title IV
or
ii. a federal agency, a State government
or
other organization or association that recognizes accrediting agencies or associations."
This U.S. Department of Education's legal definition of ''diploma mills'' clearly excludes legitimate degree granting institutions such as Concordia, Walden, Phoenix and Capella University from being associated with diploma mill entities.
(A) Concordia College and University degrees or diplomas are not up for sale, they can be earned but not bought. Concordia College & University degrees do not falsely represent to the general public that the individual has completed a program of postsecondary education or training, since all degrees and diplomas ever awarded by Concordia College and University over a period of +10 years accurately represent the holder's college-level knowledgeability gained through self-paced learning, through completing traditional or online college classes, and through life experience credits. Concordia degrees are not offered ''for a fee'', but solely for the individual's documented prior learning, required to earn his or her Concordia College and University degree.
(B) Concordia College and University is properly accredited by the National Academic Higher Education Agency in Washington DC, an accrediting agency or association that is recognized as an accrediting agency of
institutions of higher education by either the Secretary, or other organization that recognizes accrediting agencies or associations, and through a State government.
Our accreditor's website is hosted on the accreditation.pro web domain, restricted exclusively to agencies admitted to or licensed by a government body (view eligibility requirements).
No matter how many times you may read a disgruntled professor's blog fraudulently claiming that a college or university should be labeled a ''diploma mill'' because the school was unable to employ him or her in any of its degree programs, do rest assured that you are earning a valid and accredited degree, now legally protected by the U.S. Department of Education Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.
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