"I associated the name of "Almeda" with degree mill, but was I wrong? No, I was not. According to the information provided by the Council for Higher Education Association, Almeda University is not accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education."

Hi Victoria,

I'm not disagreeing with you or anything, but I wanted to point out that merely being unaccredited does not make a school a degree mill.  There are unaccredited schools which actually make you do your work and learn something.  At one time, Bob Jones University was unaccredited.  I personally attended an unaccredited (but state licensed) vocational technical school.  

Now, in my opinion, the worthwhile unaccredited schools are few and far between.  In fact, they are downright rare.  If any student has a question about a school's accreditation, they should definitely check the database at CHEA.

Simply put, a degree mill is an enterprise which will sell a student a degree for a sum of money.  More often than not, the student is not required to do any coursework, or they are given very little work at all.  If a "school" tells you they will give you a degree if you send them money and a copy of your resume, they are a degree mill.

Thank you for the comment, tcord.

I would have to do more research about the education provided by Almeda University before asserting that it is a degree mill. If, in fact, it gives degrees in exchange for money without requiring coursework, then it would prove itself to be a degree mill.

Victoria, I should clarify that I think you are CORRECT in your assessment that Almeda University is a degree mill.  I was only trying to make the point that merely being unaccredited does not make a school a degree mill.

Almeda University is known for conferring "life experience" degrees based upon an applicant's resume.  AU has been ordered to stop advertising its degrees in some states, and in 2004 a TV station in Albany ran a report about a man who typed up a resume and got an associate's degree for his dog from Almeda.  Also, Almeda isn't merely an unaccredited school.  Almeda claims dubious accreditation by organizations which are not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, which is much different than merely being unaccredited.  

There are a lot of Christian schools, in particular, which are not accredited but do provide an education for their students.  Almeda certainly isn't one of them.