Are all unaccredited Universities Diploma Mills?

[Virtual Bison]

And if the answer is no, than how can you tell the difference?

I personally believe that there is a difference. It has to do with how much work, if any is required. A phony baloney college will not require any work whatsoever. Just send a check or give a credit card number and voila your diploma is in the mail. I even heard of some so-called schools which will provide your employer with transcripts and phony references.

Obviously, this is unethical and I would never a do business with any "institution" which does business that way.

What does piss me off is that so many bogus universities make the rest of the unaccredited institutions look bad.

[Gabe]

And if the answer is no, than how can you tell the difference?

I personally believe that there is a difference. It has to do with how much work, if any is required. A phony baloney college will not require any work whatsoever. Just send a check or give a credit card number and voila your diploma is in the mail. I even heard of some so-called schools which will provide your employer with transcripts and phony references.

Obviously, this is unethical and I would never a do business with any "institution" which does business that way.

What does piss me off is that so many bogus universities make the rest of the unaccredited institutions look bad.

You pretty much summed it up. I graduated from Frederick Taylor University which is unaccredited, but I have attended several accredited schools including Grantham University & AIU Online. In some ways I felt FTU was easier, but the last two classes in the program (undergraduate) are a directed study and a comprehensive project. BOTH of these are major research projects that required a substantial amount of time to finish (in my opinion). In fact, my first draft of the directed study was rejected and I was told to revise it.

That's in stark contract to what you'd find at the "buy-here-pay-here" joints because they require NO work. Then again some schools such as Lake Charles Bible School allow students to complete a short workbook or two and earn a graduate degree. THAT is in stark contrast to what I had to do at FTU.

[Virtual Bison]

And if the answer is no, than how can you tell the difference?

I personally believe that there is a difference. It has to do with how much work, if any is required. A phony baloney college will not require any work whatsoever. Just send a check or give a credit card number and voila your diploma is in the mail. I even heard of some so-called schools which will provide your employer with transcripts and phony references.

Obviously, this is unethical and I would never a do business with any "institution" which does business that way.

What does piss me off is that so many bogus universities make the rest of the unaccredited institutions look bad.

You pretty much summed it up. I graduated from Frederick Taylor University which is unaccredited, but I have attended several accredited schools including Grantham University & AIU Online. In some ways I felt FTU was easier, but the last two classes in the program (undergraduate) are a directed study and a comprehensive project. BOTH of these are major research projects that required a substantial amount of time to finish (in my opinion). In fact, my first draft of the directed study was rejected and I was told to revise it.

That's in stark contract to what you'd find at the "buy-here-pay-here" joints because they require NO work. Then again some schools such as Lake Charles Bible School allow students to complete a short workbook or two and earn a graduate degree. THAT is in stark contrast to what I had to do at FTU.

I think that religiously oriented schools are sort of a separate category. I do not know exactly but I did hear that anyone can become a licensed clergyman. This may be the reason why there are so many storefront churches in impoverished areas. I recall a scam that actually used phony churches to launder money.