Accreditation is a way to ensure the reputability of the online university/program that you choose. The key, of course, is the unimpeachability of the accreditation organization. A university has to meet or exceed a set of standards that are deemed necessary by the accreditation body before they grant their seal of approval. A brief idea of how accreditation works will be of help to those who choose to pursue higher education online.
If a university seeks to avail federal student financial aid, it has to acquire national accreditation. Regional accreditation means that the university is recognized throughout the U.S. There are six regional accreditation bodies in the country, they are given below. An online degree from an institution accredited by any of these institutions is accorded the same validity as an onsite degree.
Another form of accreditation that exists is specialized accreditation, in this it is the course that is accredited so that employers have an assurance that students who have undergone the course have the basic minimum skills required to perform in a real-life scenario. Any specialized course should have the approval of the industry, so whether it is aeronautics or hotel management, check that your course has received a nod from the industry.
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:16 am #Gary Jaacobsen
Middle States Now Under Scrutiny
Diploma mills have long been criticized for their lack of accreditation, but now a regional accrediting association has itself come under scrutiny.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, headquartered in Philadelphia, nominally accredits colleges and universities located in Washington, D. C. and in Middle Atlantic States north to New York.
Problems with Middle States began in 1981, when it accredited a small, for-profit business college in Washington, D. C. That college subsequently relocated to Arlington, Virginia, and quickly opened branch campuses throughout the southeastern states, including Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. The institution renamed itself a university, and downgraded its original Washington, D. C. location to merely one of its 43 branch campuses.
The states in which the university expanded, however, are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), not by Middle Atlantic. Nevertheless, the original 1981 accreditation of a small business college has been stretched like a rubber band to cover 27,000 online and on-campus students in 10 states.
Some educators have argued that SACS would never accredit this new university because of the following:
May 13th, 2009 at 10:57 pm #instant degree
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