Accreditation is a validation process by which institutions of higher education are evaluated against established standards to ensure a high level of educational quality. It is typically achieved through a peer-review process in which faculty from other already accredited institutions help to conduct evaluations of either new non-accredited institutions or accredited institutions seeking renewal. The standards used to conduct these evaluations vary but in general they assess:
Unlike the practices of most other countries, in the United States accreditation of institutions of higher education is not conducted by the government. Instead, it is a voluntary process that is implemented by private nongovernmental accrediting agencies. At present, there are both regional as well as national agencies involved in the accreditation process. The only role that the government plays is to evaluate these accrediting agencies using well developed criteria in order to identify those considered to be "reliable authorities" on the quality of institutions of higher education.
In the US, the most widely recognized accreditation for degree-granting programs comes from the six regional accreditation commissions. The Distance Education & Training Council (DETC) is another accreditation agency that specializes in distance education institutions. We have made your job easier for you by listing only accredited schools on our website, however, you can never be too careful. We encourage you to check for yourself at: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.asp.
Enrolling in an education program with accreditation is important for:
For some degree programs, like the MBA programs, the accreditation of the school is especially important. Employers will be interested in hiring candidates who have been held to a rigorous standard during their graduate work. Other online educational programs without such accreditation, especially in the vocational fields, may be acceptable to employers because of their expertise in the field along with the school.s excellent reputation. Check with your employer, or a potential employer, to verify that your course of study will be adequate to secure a position, a promotion or a salary increase.
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College graduates earn an average of $1 million more during their careers than high school graduates!
Source: U.S. Census Bureau