Earning Your Online Degree from an Accredited School

So, you've decided to earn that advanced degree and move on to the next phase of your career. With the demands of juggling both your job and your family, you have determined that distance learning, with its convenience and flexibility, is the direction in which you need to go.

However, not everything in the world of online education is a black-and-white as perhaps a traditional "brick-and-mortar" school. How can you tell whether an online institution is legitimate and not a diploma mill?

The easiest way to evaluate the merits of an online program is to find out if the school is accredited. In order to become accredited, schools must meet specific requirements established by an official review board. There are several agencies that provide accreditation for schools.

These agencies are regulated by an organization called the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or CHEA, which is governed by a 20-person board of college and university presidents, institutional representatives and members of the public. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, CHEA oversees the accreditation of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities and recognizes 60 accrediting organizations.

What It Takes to Become Accredited

To become an accredited school is not an easy task. Accreditation is taken very seriously among those in academic circles as it is the primary means by which the quality of higher education institutions and programs is judged.

A form of self-regulation in which colleges and universities jointly develop standards, policies and procedures, the act of accreditation is performed by private, nonprofit organizations that review either entire institutions or specific programs such as law, medicine or business.

An ongoing process, earning accreditation comprising five primary steps:

• Self-Study, in which an institution or program prepares a written summary of its performance based on the accrediting agency's standards. For help with studying, read our study tips and make your future more efficient.
• Peer Review, through which an accreditation review is conducted by faculty, administrators and members of the public.
• Site Visit, in which the accrediting agency sends a team to review an institution or program in person.
• Judgment, at which point the accrediting agency's commission makes its final decision about the institution's or program's accredited status.
• Monitoring and Oversight, which involves routine review of the institution or program every few years.

Types of Accreditation

The most common form of accreditation is Regional Accreditation, in which an institution has met the academic standards set forth by a regionally-based accrediting organization. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the vast majority - 85 percent - of U.S. colleges, including online schools, are regionally accredited.

For the most part, regional accreditation carries a higher level of prestige in the academic world. It is the most widely recognized type of collegiate accreditation and credits earned at a regionally accredited school are widely accepts by other educational institutions.

The second form of accreditation is National Accreditation, which is granted by accrediting agencies that do not limit their scope to regional geographic areas. National accrediting organizations often will review career, vocational or trade schools and programs.

Nationally accredited schools can be less expensive than regionally accredited institutions and often offer students practical, career-focused majors that require fewer liberal arts credits. If considering a nationally accredited school, it is important to note that any credits you earn might not be transferable to other schools so it is best to confirm whether the school is recognized by other institutions of higher education.