One man's degree mill is another man's alternative university. And nobody seems to want the government stepping in to evaluate doctoral dissertations before permitting schools to grant degrees. Another large gray area is the one dealing with religious schools. In many states, religious schools are not regulated but are restricted to granting religious degrees. But in some, like Louisiana and Hawaii, if you established your own one-person church yesterday, you could start your university today and award a Ph.D. in nuclear physics tomorrow.
Many states say that religious schools can only grant religious degrees.
A diploma mill in Louisiana took that argument to new limits, when they announced that because God created everything, no matter what you studied, it was the study of the work of God, and therefore a religious degree. The answer is that, as just indicated, it is almost impossible to write a law that will discriminate clearly between legitimate schools and mills. Also, degree mills that do not muddy their own local waters, but sell their products only in other states or other countries, are more likely to get away with it longer. Many British authorities seem not to care as long as the only victims are foreigners, and authorities in the United States find it virtually impossible to take action against foreign businesses. The law declares that it pertains to everyone enrolling after April 1, 1989.