found to use the same addresses as the education providers that claim accreditation from them. Consumer information resources To help consumers avoid diploma mills and accreditation mills, several national and international bodies publish lists of recognized accreditors and accredited educational institutions, as well as accreditors that are known to lack the necessary legal authority or recognition, and higher education providers known to lack accreditation. The United States organization CHEA maintains an international directory of education ministries and other recognized higher education quality assurance bodies worldwide. The 2007 version of that directory lists 467 recognized bodies in 175 countries. Proposed U.S. legal definition A proposal for legislation that was announced in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2010 would have inserted a definition of "accreditation mill" into U.S. law. The proposal, sponsored by Congressmen Timothy Bishop of New York and Michael Castle of Delaware, would have defined the term to mean "an education or corporate organization that offers a form of educational recognition or accreditation, for a fee or free of charge, that extend[s] a permanent recognition or accreditation status to an institution with few or no requirements for subsequent periodic reviews; (B) publish[es] a list of institutions and programs recognized or accredited by such organization that includes institutions and programs that did not apply for or otherwise request such recognition or accreditation by the organization; or (C) lack[s] national recognition by the Secretary of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation." See also Unaccredited institutions of higher education List of unrecognized higher education accreditation organizations List of unaccredited institutions of higher learning References Further reading Levicoff, Steve. Name It and Frame It? New Opportunities in Adult Education and How to Avoid Being Ripped Off by 'Christian' Degree Mills (4th ed., 1995) Bear, John. Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning (Ten Speed Press, 2001). Checcacci, Claudia; Finocchietti, Carlo; Lantero, Luca. Cimea - against the mills: How to spot and counter diploma mills, CIMEA - Italian Naric centre, 2010 Fraud Academic terminology