How does accreditation work

With a little research into accreditation, students can be assured of taking the right steps towards a rewarding career. Department of Education Back To Top. You have done your research. You know how important accreditation is to your educational experience, and you are determined to find out if your school of choice is accredited before you commit to a program.

But there are dozens of different accrediting organizations. Does it matter what agency accredits your school? After all, accreditation is accreditation, right? Unfortunately, that is not quite true. The organization that accredits a college, university, or vocational program is a major indicator of educational quality.

Your school must be evaluated by a recognized accrediting agency in order for you to get your money's worth. But with so many accrediting agencies including fraudulent "accrediting agencies" with official-looking websites how can you tell what to look for when you decide what school to attend? First of all, you need to know whether to find a school that has regional accreditation or national accreditation.

Department of Education does not accredit schools itself, but it does recognize certain accrediting agencies. You can check the DOE database for specific information on an accrediting body. You can also use the CHEA Council on Higher Education Accreditation as a source of information; however, if your school is not accredited by an organization recognized by the Department of Education, you will not be eligible for financial aid, and you may have other difficulties, such as transferring credits or obtaining professional licenses.

The information below applies to institutional rather than programmatic accreditation; even if your school as a whole is accredited by one of these agencies, you would still need to make sure that your professional program is recognized by the appropriate state licensing bodies and professional associations.

Regional accrediting organizations assess public and private institutions of higher education, including distance education programs offered by these institutions. Although the accrediting agencies are regionally based, each one is widely recognized. There are also additional institutional accrediting agencies that are recognized by the U.

Students should be aware that while most nationally accredited institutions will accept transfer credits from regionally accredited institutions, the opposite is not true.

A student who earns an associate's degree from a nationally accredited school, for example, may not be able to transfer any credits to count towards a degree at a regionally accredited school. Always check individual school policies if you plan to transfer schools later in your educational journey. Note that the information in this article may be subject to change - for instance, if an accreditor changes its name - so always check the U.

Department of Education database to be sure that your school is properly accredited, and discuss your plans with an admissions officer at your school, or the school to which you plan to transfer. Article Resources: The U. The benefits of having a degree in the job market are tremendous.

For many jobs, having a degree is necessary to be hired at all, or to be promoted beyond a certain level. The benefits of higher education are projected to increase in coming years. However, it cannot be just any degree. Obtaining an accredited degree is absolutely essential if you hope to garner the career success you deserve. Accreditation is a process in which outside agencies evaluate a school's programs to ensure that they meet applicable academic standards.

Without accreditation, it is impossible for employers to know whether your diploma is from a legitimate institution or whether it is from a diploma mill—a company that offers degrees in exchange for money and little academic work. Academic institutions are equally skeptical of degrees from non-accredited schools, so it can be extremely difficult to transfer credits from a non-accredited institution to an accredited one. When investigating your school's accreditation status, you should also be sure that the accreditation agency is itself accredited.

Just like there are diploma mills, there are accreditation mills that provide meaningless certifications to schools. For a list of valid accreditation agencies, you can go to the websites for the U. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education. There can be differences between legitimate accreditation agencies as well. For example, a certification from the Distance Education Training Council doesn't always mean that credits from that institution will be transferable to other academic institutions.

If your school is certified by the DETC and you're planning on attending another institution in the future, you should check your prospective institution's policy on accepting transfer credits. The most widely accepted accreditation agencies are the regional agencies, such as the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

These are the same agencies that accredit non-digital schools and accreditation from them is as universally accepted as you can get. A degree is a fantastic asset in today's job market. It will exponentially increase the number of jobs you can do and the promotions you will be eligible for.

In order to reap the benefits of having a degree, make sure you get it from an accredited institution. Department of Education has an easy-to-use search engine for exactly this purpose. Most colleges, universities and even K schools are accredited. Accreditation demonstrates to the public at large, other institutions and potential employers that students graduating from an accredited school are well prepared and educated.

So when a school loses its accreditation status its students can often experience some negative repercussions. When a college, university or vocational program loses its accreditation status, there are many more looming implications for its students.

Students attending the school at the time of the accreditation loss face the school closing rather abruptly. This is due to the fact that the federal government does not usually provide financial aid to unaccredited post secondary institutions. The vast majority of these schools are heavily dependent on financial aid and the immediate withdrawal of all government funds guarantees that the school will quickly go bankrupt.

Furthermore, these students will have a difficult time finding admission to another school to complete their degree or program if their school closes from an accreditation loss. About Accreditation.

Whether a college, university, or program is accredited is important: Students who want federal and sometimes state grants and loans need to attend a college, university, or program that is accredited. Employers ask if a college, university, or program is accredited before deciding to provide tuition assistance to current employees, evaluating the credentials of new employees, or making a charitable contribution.

The federal government requires that a college, university, or program be accredited in order to be eligible for federal grants and loans or other federal funds. State governments require that a college, university, or program be accredited when they make state funds available to students or institutions and when they allow students to sit for state licensure examinations in some professional fields. Who Are the Accreditors? How Does Accreditation Work?

What Is Accredited? When using the database: To learn about a specific college or university, type in the name of the institution. This holds true for transfer students as well: Regionally accredited institutions typically only accept credits from other accredited schools. Because both institutions have been audited by a regulatory body, the rigor of their coursework can be verified, allowing easy transfer of course credit.

Many employers, such as the federal government, may require applicants to have degrees from regionally or nationally accredited schools. In fields like education and nursing, students must pursue certification or licensure to find employment; in these cases, students may be required to hold a programmatically accredited degree to be eligible for these qualifications.

Students interested in receiving federal financial aid -- including loans, grants, scholarships, and work-study awards -- must attend regionally or nationally accredited schools. Even many state-level and private forms of financial aid require filling out the FAFSA, and thus require regional or national accreditation.

This database, maintained by the ED, contains information reported by recognized accrediting agencies and state approval agencies. View the most relevant school for your interests and compare them by tuition, programs, acceptance rate, and other factors important to find your college home.

College Accreditation: The Basics. Share on Social. Attend college in San Francisco to live and study in this unique and culturally rich city. Explore the very best colleges in San Francisco.