A diploma mill is commonly recognized as an entity that will award a degree for substandard academic work. However, there is no universal agreement among different higher education institutions as to what constitutes minimum standard academic work or minimum knowledge and skills required of graduates. The author states that many of the negative issues that educators face in distance education are related directly to the fact that much of the general public, their legislators, and even many within academia itself, continue to have difficulty distinguishing between what occurs in legitimate distance education and what is done by diploma mills. The author mentions that notwithstanding the negative implications of diploma mills, legitimate distance education continues to be the fastest growth area within higher education and is becoming ever more institutionalized at colleges and universities. In this article, the author highlights some of the most notable conditions existing within higher education that result to the proliferation of online diploma mills and the negative effects on legitimate distance learning.