Accreditation is a process whereby institutions of higher education are evaluated against established standards. The accreditation process ensures that a university or college maintains standards in its curriculum and methodologies. Accreditation is also designed to help institutions improve their programs.

How Accreditation Works

In the US accreditation of postsecondary institutions is not conducted by the government. There is no centralized authority with oversight of educational institutions at the federal level. In some cases there are state mandated controls, but in general universities and colleges are independent.

Accreditation is not a required process for schools. The accreditation of schools is implemented by non-governmental agencies and the only role the government plays is in ensuring, through strict criteria, that the accreditation agencies are qualified to review schools. Accrediting agencies can be national or regionally focused, so they only work with schools within specific states. The US Department of Education keeps a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies said to be trustworthy. That list can be found here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.The second major organization that determines accreditation in the US is the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Details and accredited schools can be found at http://www.chea.org.

What to Watch Out For

It is important to ask the admissions advisor at any online university or college direct you to the school’s accreditation credentials as well as which agency accredited the university. Always be wary of any other terms used besides ‘accredited’ such as ‘registered’ or ‘chartered’ when reviewing a school’s accreditation. Finally, it is very important to differentiate an accredited university or college from censorship and licensure of an individual, these are very different concepts.

Sadly, there are a lot of ‘diploma mills’ which are created to provide the illusion of an online education and provide a fake diploma that has no credibility. These sham organizations are created to make money from unsuspecting people as well as provide a means for fraudulent individuals to obtain a degree for dubious purposes. Technology combined with the rise in popularity of online education and distance learning has enabled a lot of these counterfeit groups to flourish. For this reason, it is very important to do your homework.

The Benefits of Accreditation

You employers will often look at accreditation as a validation of the degree you’ve obtained, so make sure your degree is from an accredited university. There are many accredited universities that provide online degrees so there is no reason to consider obtaining a degree from another type of institution.

We discuss the different options available to students in our Financial Aid section, but accreditation is a very important factor in receiving financial aid: only students who are planning to attend accredited universities or colleges are eligible to receive federal loans or grants. If you will be taking advantage of the enormous amount of money the government provides for postsecondary education, you will have to pick a nationally accredited university. The same requirements will likely apply for most employer reimbursement programs as well as scholarships you may apply for.