Accredation and Your Education

Make Your Degree Count

To earn a degree and have it accepted by business and government authorites requires that your college in which you are enrolled be accredited by one or more accreditation commissions.

These commissions must be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and/or state approval agencies.

There are six main commissions that cover the entire United States by geography and are recognized by the Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Regional Commissions for Accrediting Colleges

The regional commissions are seen as the main source of accredation. National agencies are not as important although the more accreditations, the more respected the school.

Some perceive taking courses online and learning off campus is a lower quality of education than learning on campus. A standard of quality is set up to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable education. The regional commissions perform this function so you can make a smart decision concerning your college or university of choice.

Choosing Your College

Start your seach by going through lists of major colleges and the unique course and degree programs they offer. You can filter you search by geographic region, private, public, non-profit, for-profit, number of students, and degree type. Call each school to learn more about their accreditations.

They should be very knowlegable on this subject as most people are concerned that their distance learning should be legit. If the representative is not informed, then it's a bad sign. Poor customer service reflects on the college itself. Since you are not able to physically be on the campus, your conversations and communication with the school should be very easy and prompt.

If they do not service your requests as you would like, they may be understaffed or have ineffecient customer relationship management and may lack in other areas as well. Distance Learning only allows you a few methods to communicate such as phone, email, and fax. Spending a good amount of money on a college should provide you a smooth line of communication between your professors and other faculty.

Want to Learn More About Accredited Degree Programs?

Check out Degree Tutor and About.com's Accreditation Basics for an overview of common accredidation questions and answers.