Is Rochville University a diploma mill?

Answer 1

Authoritative sites include (but are not limited to) the State of Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization (ODA); or the state of Michigan Deptartment of Higher Education's well-known list of mills available as a PDF file... just to name two. There are many others like those out there.

Even without those, though, simply looking-up the school in the database of "accredited" schools in whatever is its country is a good place to start. If the school's not "accredited" (or whatever equivalent word said country uses), then that increases, precipitously, the statistical probability that the school is questionable, at best. I'm not saying that a school necessarily needs to be accredited (or whatever the country in question calls it, instead) in order to be credible, but it sure helps. And, in fact, a very compelling argument may be made for never having anything to do with any school that's not accredited, just as a matter of practice.

And if one decides on that standard, then not being ripped-off by a degree or diploma mill is easy because all one has to do is look-up the school in question in the database of accredited schools, and if it's not there, then it's not accredited; and if it's not accredited, then it should be avoided. If it is the the database of accredited schools, then it may or may not be a particularly good school (because, remember, accreditation is a minimal standard), but it at least can't possibly be a degree/diploma mill.

In the US, the two authoritative databases of accredited schools are operated by the US Department of Education (USDE), and the USDE-sanctioned Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

If the school in question isn't in at least one of those (and it'll likely be in both, but there are a tiny handful of schools in one, but not the other, so they should both be checked), then it's not accredited. The only exception would be a school that's been so recently accredited that the maintainers of the USDE and/or CHEA databases haven't had a chance to enter them yet. But even then, a visit to the actual accreditor's web site will likely reveal, in fairly short order, that the school is or isn't accreditedl; and to find out the name of the accreditor, and its site, simply ask the school. No legitimately-accredited school would refuse to provide the information; however, one should always verify, on both the USDE and CHEA web sites, that whatever accreditor is given is actually a legitimate USDE- and/or CHEA-approved accreditor.

Outside the US, how schools are accredited will vary, but it will usually be by either a government department, or an independent agency of the government's appointment. And in order for accreditation (or whatever the country calls it, instead) to be meaningful, the country in question must have an observable culture of educational accountability. There are countries out there (think: Liberia, for example, just to name one) which are havens for degree mill operators, so not all accreditation with governmentall imprimatur is necessarily legitimate.

Generally speaking, all the big English-speaking countries (US, UK, Australia, South Africa, etc.) all have cultures of educational accountability; and all have some kind of educational quality assurance framework and certification, and a web site where accredited/certified schools may be looked-up. So, then, schools in them, and degrees from them -- as long as they're accredited (or whatever those countries call it, instead -- may be trusted. But mills also exist in those countries, so be careful. Always figure out what is/are the non-US country's equivalent(s) of the US's USDE and CHEA database web sites, and bother to look-up all schools in said countries and make sure they're accredited.

All that said, there are completely legitimate unaccredited schools out there. They're just few and far between.

Any school which is brand new, and so hasn't yet been in business long enough, nor has sufficient numbers of graduates; but which nevertheless observably and verifiably operates exactly as it will have to operate once it's accredited; and which has declared its intention to become accredited, may well be completely legitimate, but simply not yet accredited. If they continue to not be accredited, though, long after they're finally able to apply, then be wary.

There are also some states -- California being one, but there are others -- which have unaccredited, but nevertheless state-approved, schools which prepare people for state professional licensure of somekid (for accounting, for example; or law, or nursing, etc.) which, as long as they're approved by the licensing board in question, are also completely credible, despite their lack of accreditation. It's still better, though (though often more expensive, hence the reason the unaccredited but state-approved schools even exist), to get one's pre-licensure education from an accredited school.

Other than that sor of thing, though, one should avoide unaccredited schools. For starters, the coursework of an unaccredited school -- no matter how good it observably is -- will likely not transfer to an accredited school. And the degree of an unaccredited school -- again, no matter how good it is -- will likely not be acceptable as requisite for a higher-level degree at an accredited school. So, that being the case, the argument that one is just wasting one's time messing around with unaccredited schools may easily and convincingly be made...

...and, again, once the decision to just not mess with unaccredited schools is made by the degree-seeker, then it becomes just so, so, so easy for said degree seeker to never be ripped-off by the likes of Rochville and other good-for-nothing, well-known degree and/or diploma mills.

The difference, incidentally, between a "diploma mill" and a "degree mill" is this...

A "diploma mill" is little more than a printing shop... of the sort to which one would go to get business cards printed-up. A diploma mill simply prints diplomas... either general-format diplomas onto which is printed the name of the desired school, the degree, and the recipient's name (along with some fake signatores at the bottom); or some diploma mills will actually print a diploma which actually looks exactly like the one issued by the school in question. In either case, the diploma mill will claim that it's all just good-natured fun; that it's just for novelty or gag purposes. However, that most of them also provide, for an additional fee, a fake (but authentic-looking) transcript pretty much shoots a hole in THAT lame excuse!

A "degree mill," on the other hand, actually predents to be a school; and will actually "award" what it claims are "degrees," usually for "life experience." In an effort to fool the degree-seeker into believing that it's a real school, the degree mill will tend to have a very impressive looking web site, and will often claim to be accredited by an independing and official-sounding agency to whose site the degree mill's site links. Of course the accreditor site is fake, too... and created by the degree mill, itself. The degree mill will also ask for copies of all previous college transcripts, a resume, maybe even a birth certificate or some other form of ID, just to make it look to the unwary degree-seeker that it's doing something which actually matters. The degree mill may also have the degree-seeker take a "course" or two (usually consisting of just reading a book and writing the equivalent of a high-school-quality book report); and then, after all that, as soon as the degree-seeker pays his/her fee, voila!, the fake degree is sent through the mail (usually accompanied by a fake transcript... both of which the degree mill, incidentally, may well have obtained from a diploma mill) to said degree-seeker.

Both diploma and degree mills are bogus. Those with their credentials are usually dishonest, and know exactly what they're doing when they try to foist off their fake degrees as though they were real. They were nearly never actually fooled by any mill... though that's what they'll always claim if they're ever caught. Always. Never believe them, though. People with fake degrees ALWAYS -- trust me -- know they're fake. They're simply hoping no one will ever notice or figure it out; and if anyone ever does, they lie and say they didn't know. Bunk!

There is absolutely no question that "Rochville University" is a degree mill. Based on my definitions, here, of "diploma mill" and "degree mill," it is more likely a "degree mill" than a "diploma mill;" however, whenever it simply sells the diploma and transcript without even a pretense of "awarding" a "degree," then, yes, it's a "diploma mill."

In either case, "Rochville University" is both notoriously well-known, and nefarious. Stay away from it, and all other mills, too. And learn how to figure out if they're mills without relying on web sites of questionable authority.