Is my Online Program Accredited?
Posted by Benae Lambright on September 30th, 2008
Many people have heard horrifying stories about diploma mills that are tarnishing the ideologies that support online education. Distance learning has many benefits by offering courses to those who are not able to commit to a traditional college program. But just as the prospective student must do their homework to find the program that is best for them, it is also their responsibility to confirm the online school’s accreditation.
This is an easy task. Using the United States Department of Education (USDE) website, a person can research any school’s accreditation. The USDE site will offer the college or university’s accreditation, along with a particular department’s specialized accreditation if applicable. This can be attained in seconds by using the Department of Education’s search function to look for the school of choice. The Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) also list individual school’s accreditation. Using their database you can also easily locate the accrediting organization for an identified school.
The accreditation process was established to ensure that colleges and universities assure and improve the quality of higher education, according to the CHEA Talking Points: Accreditation, Students and Society article published this June 2008. Schools in the United Statesare granted accreditation through a regional organization. Most degree granting schools will be accredited by one or more of the seven regional groups. Some online programs will be accredited by the same agency that granted accreditation to their college or university’s traditional program but they might also receive professional, religious or other specialized accreditations. The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) has become a recognized accreditation program that many online programs seek.
So while you are gearing up to embark on your new experience of beginning or returning to school, keep in mind the importance of enrolling in a validated online program. Using the USDE or CHEA websites, you can learn whether your potential school has the proper accreditation to grant your degree. The school’s website should also have their accreditation posted, if not this is your first warning sign!
To learn more about accreditation agencies and the regions they cover log onto:
Tags: accreditation, higher edcuation, online learning, United States Department of Education
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Online Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
