Diploma mill

A diploma mill is a term for an organization that provides a certificate that indicates educational achievement for a fee. Strictly, the term has some legal implication. In the United States, that meaning was codified in the 1950's in the wake of the GI Bill, which provided government subsidy of education for soldiers afterWW II. Accredidation standards were set up to insure that rganizations that charged tuition and granted degrees and diplomas actually offered a significant education. A diploma mill, then, is an organization that awards a degree or diploma without the provision of education, or without enforcing a standard of acheivement by a student before conferring such an award.