Real Online Degree vs Diploma Mill Scam

 by: Frank Larner

Figuring out the reasons people want to get an online degree is simple. Online colleges are ten times more convenient then attending a campus school with a fixed schedule. You can keep your job while you attend. But perhaps the most important reason so many people go for an online degree is this. More education improves your life.

It’s easier to get promoted when you finish your online degree. Graduates tend to make more money, and get better duties. Getting your degree, or advanced specialization just makes your life better. And a better life is worth trying for.

It’s no surprise, then, that unscrupulous people will try to take advantage of people trying to better their lives. They come on with a slick sales letter, promising you an online degree in NO time, simply because of your life experience.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? You’ve led a full life. You’ve learned a lot. You probably actually deserve a degree of some kind. But the real world doesn’t work like that. It might be nice if it did but it doesn’t.

That doesn’t stop these “diploma mills” from convincing people every day that a degree from their “college” will be recognized as valuable by society, and more importantly, their bosses. If you went to your boss with a piece of paper from one of these scammers, do you think you’d get that big fat promotion? Of course not.

I think what is even worse is that they actually charge quite a fee for their “services.” People pay out a few hundred dollars sometimes, sometimes more, because when compared with the costs of actually going to school and getting a real degree online, it seems faster and cheaper. And why not? It is faster and cheaper.

At least it would be if it were an actual accredited degree instead of just a piece of card-stock (if it’s a fancy scam) with something official-looking printed on it. I’ve seen a few of these diplomas, and truthfully, it’s nothing that a kid with a computer couldn’t bang out with Microsoft Publisher in less then 5 minutes.

The worst part of this entire thing is who the scammers target. Most of the time the diploma mills ads are aimed at the undereducated and therefore lower paid people. These people can’t afford to lose over a hundred dollars. But because their uneducated, and because it’s human nature to want to strive for more, to make your life better, they fall into the diploma mill’s trap.