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About Accreditation

Thinking about getting an online degree, but don't know which is the right one for you? Not all online school offerings are alike, and before you make that commitment, you'll need to make sure that the time and effort you put into your degree or certification will "count." Make sure your school is properly accredited.

Why Accreditation is Important

Schools can offer perfectly adequate, low-cost educational options – a prime example is vocational training – without having an "Accredited" label; they may list themselves as "state- approved" or "state-licensed." So, why choose an educational institution that is accredited? "Accreditation" means that your school has been deemed to meet or exceed a predetermined set of criteria. In other words, every school that is accredited has met the same objective baseline of quality by the U.S. Department of Education and The Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Pursuing education at an accredited school helps with legibility for employer-recognized tuition support, government financial aid and licensing. And, if you transfer to another instruction, non-accredited credits are often not accepted; which means your hard work may not count towards your diploma.

Want to see if your school of choice measures up? Both www.chea.org and http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation are sites that list up-to-date, currently accredited educational institutions.