Diploma Mill Tricks

The Name Game

Of the following, which one is the diploma mill?

• Concordia University

• Concordia University College of Alberta

• Concordia International School International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

• Concordia College

• Concordia College and University

There are at least a dozen recognized and fully accredited educational institutions with similar names as the ones listed above. They are located everywhere from China to the Phillipines to Minnesota. It was the perfect name to use for a diploma mill.

Students need to be wary of diploma mills that masquerade as a legitimate educational institution with a similar name.

Before writing this article, Concordia is a name I associated with a school from Minnesota known for its choral groups. Little did I realize that the wonderful musical program we see each year on PBS comes from a school named Concordia College that has had its good name sullied by people attempting to commit fraud.

According to Wikipedia, Concordia College and University is one of the many life experience online degree programs. For a fee, students can purchase an associate's, bachelor's, master's or even doctoral degree in almost any subject simply based upon the purchaser's work and life experiences. Students, a term I use loosely, are not required to attend any course, study or pass examinations to get their degrees.

Addresses for this diploma mill have changed a number of times as has the source of their accreditation. They have claimed accreditation from the National Academy of Higher Education and the Distance Graduation Accrediting Association - neither of which are recognized by the United States Department of Education. The diploma mill has ties to Dominica, Liberia, Pakistan and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In two separate court cases, litigants or a member of the media obtained degrees from Concordia College and University for dogs. Sadly, in one of the cases the judge sided with the holder of the fraudulent degree, in of all things criminal justice, citing that through his life experience he had "earned his degree" and that there was no similarity to the same degree granted to the community's police dog obtained by a local radio station DJ. The other defendant, who claimed to have even attended courses at the school, quickly lost their case when a member of the opposing legal team produced a degree for his dog "Lulu."

While there are still a number of diploma mill friendly states, many states are enacting laws and statutes that make using an unlawful degree a crime. Many states are actively working to prosecute degree mill operators and more and more employers are researching each applicant's educational credentials.

Don't assume just because the name is close that it is in fact a legitimate school. The degree mills are counting on prospective students who are gullible enough to think that they can earn a real degree without any coursework or who will assume that the credentials provided are legitimate. Besides using a name similar to that of a legitimate college or university, another diploma mill trick is to claim accreditation from a legitimate/real organization that does not in fact accredit degree programs.