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A diploma mill or degree mill is a business that sells illegitimate diplomas or academic degrees. The term diploma mill is also used pejoratively to describe any educational institution with low standards for admission and graduation, low job placement rate, or low average starting salaries of its graduates.
Hamilton University was an unaccredited institution based in Evanston, Wyoming. According to the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, it was first established in Hawaii as American State University. It has since been closed by court order in Wyoming and has relocated to the Bahamas under the name Richardson University.
Breyer State University, also called Breyer State University-Alabama, is an unaccredited distance education, for profit, private university that formerly operated in the U.S. states of Idaho and Alabama and now reports a location in Panama. It has been described by The New Republic magazine as a diploma mill that "claimed official-sounding accreditation to attract hundreds of people to obtain degrees". Breyer State University disputes this categorization.
Belford University was an organization that offered online unaccredited degrees for "life experience". The organization maintained a post office box in Humble, Texas, but its certificates were mailed from the United Arab Emirates. Along with many similar websites, it was owned by the Karachi-based company Axact, the main business of which, according to an investigation by The New York Times, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale". In July 2018, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, the CEO of Axact was arrested and sentenced to prison for 20 years for his role in perpetuating this scam.
Rochville University was an online diploma mill offering a "Life Experience Degree, and Certificate Program" without coursework or prior transcript evaluation. The State of Texas classified it as an "illegal supplier of educational credentials" whose degrees may not be used in Texas. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization lists it as "fake". Its operation is believed to be centered in Pakistan, and its diplomas and degree certificates have been mailed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Along with many similar enterprises, it is owned by the Karachi based company, Axact, whose main business, according to a New York Times investigation, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale".
American Central University (ACU) was an unaccredited distance learning private, for-profit university licensed by the state of Wyoming in 2004. The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization stated that the institution may be run from Malaysia.
The Oregon Office of Degree Authorization (ODA) is a unit of the Office of Student Access and Completion, with responsibilities related to maintaining high standards in private higher education institutions in Oregon. ODA administers laws and provides oversight of private colleges and universities offering degree programs in the state, validates individual claims of degrees, enforces the closure of substandard or fraudulent higher education programs in the state, and enforces policy for publicly funded postsecondary programs and locations. It was formerly a unit of the Oregon Student Access Commission (OSAC), which became Oregon Student Assistance Commission prior to January 1, 2012. Its functions moved to the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission as part of the Office of Student Access and Completion in July 2012.
University Degree Program (UDP) is or was an unaccredited consortium of diploma mills run by Americans Jason and Caroline Abraham beginning in the 1990s. In 2004, The Chronicle of Higher Education called UDP the "granddaddy" of diploma mill operations.
Almeda University was an unaccredited for-profit online university registered on the Caribbean island of Nevis. It offered illegitimate degrees including online certificate programs, general "Life Experience Degrees", and doctorates in religion and theology. Almeda was accredited by the Council for Distance Education Accreditation, the Interfaith Education Ministries (IEM), and the Association for Online Academic Excellence (AOAEX), none of which were recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Almeda University is widely regarded as a diploma mill. It was owned and operated by Pakistani software company Axact.
Thomas James Kirk II operated several fraudulent higher education organizations, including LaSalle University in Mandeville, Louisiana, the University of San Gabriel Valley, and Bienville University. Kirk's "LaSalle University" was shut down in 1996 following a raid by the FBI. Kirk was indicted for tax fraud in 1996 and, after a plea agreement, was sentenced to five years in U.S. federal prison. Kirk later died in January 2008.
Pacific Western University (Hawaii) was an unaccredited university that closed in May 2006 following a lawsuit filed by the State of Hawaii a year earlier.
Unaccredited institutions of higher education are colleges, trade schools, seminaries, and universities which do not have formal educational accreditation.
Columbia State University was a California-based diploma mill that operated from the mid-1980s until its court-ordered closure in 1998.
Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan, is a Pakistani politician, senior lawyer, author, analyst, columnist, and leftist writer who served as Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs from April 2020 to 10 April 2022, and before that as the Federal Law Minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. He also served as a junior Pakistani Senator of Punjab Province from 2012 to 2017. Later he joined PTI to serve as Member Executive Council of PTI.
Bienville University was an unaccredited institution that was based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was run by Thomas J. Kirk. Bienville University was referred to as a diploma mill or degree mill in a 2003 article by KVBC News 3. It was never recognised or approved by any accreditation agency and was not approved by the US Department of Education nor the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and has been closed by the State of Louisiana.
The Thomas Jefferson Education Foundation was a diploma mill run in the 1990s and based in South Dakota.
Diploma mills in the United States are organizations that award academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without academic approval by officially recognized educational accrediting bodies or qualified government agencies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity.
Michelle N. Kidani is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate since January 16, 2013 representing District 18. Kidani served consecutively from 2009 until 2013 in the District 17 seat.
Atlantic International University, Inc. (AIU) is an unaccredited private for-profit distance learning university based in Honolulu, Hawaii. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees including doctorates. It is widely described as a degree mill. AIU degrees are unrecognized in Oregon, illegal to use in Texas, and unsatisfactory for fufilling civil service requirements in Michigan as they are considered substandard or fraudulent.
References
- ↑ "Civil Enforcement Lawsuits: Monticello University". State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
formerly known as Thomas Jefferson University
- ↑ Tang, Heather (May 26, 2000). "State dominates the $200 million quick-degree industry". Honolulu: Pacific Business News . Retrieved 22 August 2010.
operator Leslie Snell was found guilty in Hawaii and Kansas of issuing invalid degrees without state authority and was fined in excess of $1.7 million. ... judge's finding that the university falsely claimed to offer "accredited doctorate, master's and bachelor's" degrees
- ↑ Carroll, Diane; Franey, Lynn (August 12, 1999). "Kansas authorities investigating Monticello University". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on April 17, 2001. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
- ↑ Olsen, Florence (August 20, 1999). "Kansas Sues the Owner of an On-Line University That Allegedly Sold Degrees". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on April 29, 2001. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
- 1 2 Iqbal, Anwar (July 12, 2010). "Status of Babar Awan's alma mater in doubt". Dawn . Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
university from where Law Minister Babar Awan claims to have done his PhD is banned in the United States from issuing any degree ... it does "utilise erroneous or misleading advertising".
- ↑ Associated Press (April 22, 2000). "President of online school found liable of misrepresenting program" . The Olathe Daily News. A4. Retrieved May 28, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Monticello University". cca.hawaii.gov. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
- ↑ Noah, Harold J.; Eckstein, Max A. (2001). "3". Fraud and education: the worm in the apple. The Internet Archive. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-7425-1032-6.
7. Monticello University (Kansas)
- ↑ "Babar Awan's case to be sent to ECP, again". PakTribune. July 29, 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
take action against the law minister for holding a fake doctorate degree.
