There has been a huge movement within the last few years of people deciding to get that ever valuable piece of paper through online schools and universities. Overall, there is nothing really wrong with this. Many online degree programs are very good and defiantly offer convenience and versatility that traditional accredited colleges could not accommodate.

However, because of the nature of online colleges, because they are very low contact organizations with students spread out possibly over the whole country, it can be difficult to detect whether or not online schools truly are legitimate accredited colleges or diploma mill scams, at least until it's too late.

Chances are, if an online school sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are institutions online claiming to be accredited colleges, but at a fraction of the cost of other higher education institutions. They also claim to be able to get you through your program in a particularly short amount of time, much less than other programs.

These are likely what are called Diploma Mills, the fast-food version of higher education. They are cheap, fast, and easy to complete, yet leave you no better off than you were before you started because as non accredited colleges, the diploma you receive is worthless.

Any college, online or other, that is worth attending will undergo an accreditation process.

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by higher education institutions meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies, which are private educational associations and not government entities, develop evaluation criteria and conduct evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Colleges that request an agency's evaluation and that meet an agency's criteria are then considered accredited colleges by that agency.

Before you decide to attend any institution of higher education, particularly if it is an online college, make sure that you check it's status with a listing of accredited colleges. Fast food can be fun and convenient every now and then, but a steady diet of it will ruin your health and break your budget. Fast food style education is just as bad, but the consequences can be much more far reaching as you try to find employment with nothing but a worthless certificate from a diploma mill.