You probably have seen before many advertisements on quick online degree that you can earn with very minimum efforts. What you need is to pay a certain tuition fees and your desired degree will be issued. You might wonder what these online degrees are all about. Let's think logically, can you really earn a recognized degree within 10 days just paying $19.99? If yes, why other students need to spend years to earn the same degree? Therefore, chances are those quick degrees are awarded by diploma mills or bogus schools that are lacking of official accreditation.

Diploma mills are trying to make money from you by offering easier to earn "fake" degrees. If you are thinking of taking the advantages of those quick degrees that sound too good to be true, you will definitely face problem with the degree proves worthless during your job search because no employers will accept them. Therefore, you should avoid yourself from diploma mills with your best efforts. Here are a few tell-tale signs that an online school is in fact a diploma mill:

1. Questionable Accreditation

Today, most diploma mills also claim accreditation, but you will notice that their accreditation information is questionable because the accrediting agency that performs the accrediting process is unknown or not listed in the recognized accreditation database. Although not all online schools without accreditation are diploma mills, but you are advisable to earn your online degree from an accredited school to ensure you have a valid degree when comes time to search job or transfer credit to other school later.  Whereas, schools with questionable accreditation information should be a strong alert of online degree scam, you should avoid totally from enrolling into their online degree program.

2. Fast Graduation

If an online school promises a degree in an unreasonable short period of time that looks too good to be true, it should be too good to be true. Although you will earn a degree faster in online format compares to the traditional campus-based setting, no legitimate school will grant you a degree in 30 days or less. Therefore, be highly alert on diploma mills if any online schools promise a degree in substantially shorter times.

3. Flat Fee

All legitimate online schools count fees based on credit hours, per class or per semester basis, not a flat fee per degree. Diploma mills normally offer a degree in a flat fee format, such as a degree with a cost of $19.99 and their fee is extremely low until it looks too good to be true.

4. Degrees based solely on "Life Experience"

The rule of thumb, no online schools will offer a degree solely based on "Life Experience". Although some online degree programs do count on life experience to waive some subjects, it just contributes some small credit requirements for graduation. Therefore, if an online school promises to issue a degree based solely on your life experience without the need to take tests, studying or attending online classes. All you need is to fax them your resume in order to be awarded with your desired degree, it should be a strong warning sign of diploma mill.

Summary

Degrees offered by diploma mills are worthless; you should avoid them with the best efforts. Use the above tips to spot for potential diploma mills and avoid them totally.