List of Scam Schools, Diploma Mills and Schools

List of Scam Schools - Beware the Scams

The following list of scam diploma mills should help you quickly identify schools that you either definitely do not want to deal with, or often could find a fully accredited alternative.

This list is derived from several sources, to provide one comprehensive list.

You may want to see our overview page and our tips on recognizing scam schools, first.

The sources for the list below include the Oregon Office of Degree Accreditation (ODA) list to help identify those degree suppliers that do not meet the requirements of Oregon's standards (ORS 348.609(1)) which are considered to be one of the few comprehensive lists of carefully screened schools and Wikipedia's list. The Oregon standard defines accreditation to include only those accreditors recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Most public employment, professional licensure, teaching, admission into a graduate school and degree use in other areas requires a degree from an accredited school. Any employer may impose such a requirement on job applicants or employees if a degree is required for employment. The State of Oregon requires accredited degrees for state employment. A list of accredited schools is maintained by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Keep in mind that no list can be all-inclusive and new schools (and scams) appear every day, and many schools correct problems that get them on a list. The list contains degree suppliers that may not now exist, may never have existed, exist only as unregulated businesses, operate under exemptions in state laws or operate with state approval outside Oregon. And some schools clean up their acts and become legitimate!

For general information about the operations of unaccredited schools investigated by the U.S. Senate and other entities, see the following links:

Unaccredited schools

All schools below are considered by the state of Oregon's and other U.S. and international standards to be UNACCREDITED. Many are scams, a few may be decent schools, but ALL are without accreditation, something most sensible people would say is a starting point to obtain a quality education and a degree that will be broadly accepted and respected. See this page for a list unaccredited schools.

Blatant Scams

Entries are those, which in addition to being unaccredited are also found to be:

scams by a court of law or do not have the proper authorization to offer degrees where they are based

If you believe a school is identified as a unaccredited or as a scam in error, or you believe a school should be added to this list, please contact us, with your reasons why.

Name, Location(s), Remarks, Wikipedia footnotes, Type

This is by no means an exhaustive list of institutions whose degrees cannot be used in Oregon or elsewhere - or must be used with restrictions. It is a list of those most recently reported.

Links to Wikipedia pages links include of colleges, seminaries, and universities lacking educational accreditation.

Degrees or other qualifications from unaccredited institutions may not be accepted by civil service or other employers. See Unaccredited institutions of higher learning for discussion of the various reasons why institutions may operate without accreditation.

Institutions that appear on this list are those that grant post-secondary degrees but are listed as unaccredited by a reliable source. Some of these institutions are no longer in operation. Several unaccredited universities have names that are similar to those of accredited institutions or that falsely imply that it is a public university.

See also:

And please let us know about any suspicious calls or emails you receive. We look for patterns so that we can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!

For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.