Verification Guides
How to Verify Online Degrees: Legitimate vs Fraudulent Programs
Guide to distinguishing legitimate online degree programs from fraudulent ones. Covers accreditation, verification methods, and red flags.
Coverage note, updated 3 October 2026: VerifyED holds imported records from official registers and supplementary sources. Coverage and source dates vary by jurisdiction. Inclusion alone does not establish recognition, current operation, attendance, or an award. Inspect the source authority and date for the matched institution.
The online degree landscape
Online education has grown dramatically, with legitimate universities now offering fully online degrees alongside traditional programs. However, the online space has also attracted diploma mills. Distinguishing between the two requires understanding accreditation and verification methods. VerifyED helps verify whether an online institution is recognized and accredited.
Verifying online degrees
- Check accreditation — Legitimate online programs carry the same accreditation as their on-campus counterparts.
- Verify the institution — Use VerifyED to check if the institution is in our database of 1.3 million+ imported school records.
- Check program-level accreditation — For professional programs (nursing, engineering, business), verify program-specific accreditation.
- Contact the institution — Legitimate online schools have registrar offices that verify enrollment and graduation.
Legitimate online providers
- Traditional universities with online programs — Many top universities now offer online degrees (e.g., Georgia Tech OMSCS, ASU Online).
- Established online universities — Some universities were built for online education and have earned legitimate accreditation (e.g., WGU, SNHU).
- Same degree, different delivery — At legitimate schools, online degrees carry the same accreditation and transcript as on-campus programs.