ACCREDITATION
What is accreditation? Accreditation is intended to assure constituents and the public of the quality and integrity of higher education institutions and programs, and to help those institutions and programs improve. These outcomes are achieved through rigorous internal and external review processes during which the institution is evaluated against a common set of standards.
When accreditation is awarded to an institution of higher education by a regional/national/specialized accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, it means that the institution has (1) a mission appropriate to higher education, (2) resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain its mission, (3) clearly specified educational objectives that are consistent with its mission and appropriate to the degrees it offers, and that it is (4) successful in assessing its achievement of these objectives and demonstrating improvements. Accreditation is a statement of the institution’s continuing commitment to integrity and its capacity to provide effective programs and services based on agreed-upon accreditation standards.
How can I determine if an institution is accredited?
Discovering whether your school has a stamp of approval can be a painstaking process, but it's an important one, experts say. Many colleges and universities won't accept transfer credits from schools without recognized accreditation and employers often won't pay for their employees to attend them. You can discover whether a specific online university enjoys proper accreditation by examining the following details:
What is the difference between regional, national and specialized accreditation? Regional accrediting bodies conduct comprehensive reviews of institutions of higher education and operate primarily in a specific geographical area. The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution including reported branch campuses, other instructional sites, online programs, and distance learning modalities. Regional accrediting bodies typically accredit a wide range of institutions offering associate, baccalaureate, masters and/or doctoral degrees.
There are seven regional accrediting associations in the United States comprising eight commissions that grant institution-wide accreditation. (For a list of regional accrediting agencies, please see www.chea.org.) While there are some modest differences in accreditation standards across regions, they operate similarly and all are recognized by the United States Department of Education (U.S.D.E.) to conduct accreditation activities. Regional accrediting bodies also serve a “gate keeper” function for access to Title IV funds.
National accrediting bodies conduct comprehensive reviews of institutions and operate primarily throughout the United States. The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution. Most of the accredited institutions are private and have missions focused either on career education or religious education. (For a list of national accrediting agencies, please see www.chea.org.)
Specialized or programmatic accrediting bodies conduct focused reviews of a single educational program and operate primarily throughout the United States, although a few operate internationally. Many are recognized by the U.S.D.E. to conduct accreditation activities. (For a list of specialized accrediting agencies, please see www.chea.org.)
What happens if an accredited institution doesn’t meet accreditation standards? Institutions that do not demonstrate that they meet accreditation standards may be asked for monitoring reports, placed on the public sanctions of “Warning” or “Probation,” or dropped from status as a candidate or an accredited institution. (For additional information, please see Sanctions, Denial of Reaffirmation, and Removal from Membership.)
How can I determine if there are any accredited institutions currently on the public sanction of “Warning” or “Probation”? For a list of any institutions on “Warning” or “Probation,” please see Accreditation Actions & Disclosure Statements, and then select from the array of available documents.
What do “Warning” and “Probation” mean? For a description of “Warning” and “Probation,” please see Sanctions, Denial of Reaffirmation, and Removal from Membership.
Accreditation in the United States
Accrediting Agencies Recognized for their Pre-accreditation Categories
Under the terms of the Higher Education Act and other Federal legislation providing funding assistance to post secondary education, an institution or program is eligible to apply for participation in certain Federal programs if, in addition to meeting other statutory requirements, it is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or if it is an institution or program with respect to which the U.S. Secretary of Education has determined that there is satisfactory assurance the institution or program will meet the accreditation standards of such an agency or association within a reasonable time. An institution of program may establish satisfactory assurance of accreditation by acquiring pre-accreditation status with a nationally recognized agency that has been recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education for the award of such status. According to the Criteria for Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies, if an accrediting agency has developed a pre-accreditation status, it must demonstrate that it applies criteria and follows procedures that are appropriately related to those used to award accreditation status. The criteria for recognition also require an agency's standards for pre-accreditation to permit an institution or program to hold pre-accreditation no more than five years.
The following is a list of accrediting agencies recognized for their pre-accreditation categories and the categories that are recognized:
Regional Institutional Accrediting Agencies
MIDDLE STATES COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION: Candidate for Accreditation
NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES:
Commission on Institution of Higher Education : Candidate for Accreditation
NORTH CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS--
The Higher Commission: Candidate for Accreditation
NORTHWEST COMMISSION ON COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: Candidate for Accreditation
SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS--
Commission on Colleges: Candidate for Accreditation
WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES--
Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges: Candidate for Accreditation
Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities: Candidate for Accreditation
National Institutional and Specialized Accrediting Bodies
ACCREDITATION COMMISSION FOR ACUPUNCTURE AND ORIENTAL MEDICINE: Preaccreditation - Candidacy status
ACCREDITATION COMMISSION FOR MIDWIFERY EDUCATION: Preaccreditation
ACCREDITATION COUNCIL FOR PHARMACY EDUCATION: Candidate, Precandidate
AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION--
American Commission on Education in Nutrition and Dietetics: pre-accreditation
AMERICAN OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION--
Council on Optometric Education: Reasonable Assurance and Preliminary Approval (for professional degree programs);
Candidacy Pending (for optometric residency programs in Veterans' Administration facilities)AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION--
Bureau of Professional Education: Provisional Accreditation
AMERICAN PHYSICAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION--
Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education: Candidate for Accreditation
AMERICAN PODIATRIC ASSOCIATION--
Council on Podiatric Medical Education: Candidate Status
AMERICAN SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOCIATION--
Council on Academic Accreditation: Candidate Status
AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION--
Council on Education: Reasonable Assurance
ASSOCIATION FOR BIBLICAL HIGHER EDUCATION--
Commission on Accrediting: Candidate for Accreditation
ASSOCIATION OF ADVANCED RABBINICAL AND TALMUDIC SCHOOLS--
Accreditation Commission: Correspondent, Candidate
COMMISSION ON ACCREDITING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS: Candidate for Accredited Membership
COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: Preaccreditation
COUNCIL ON NATUROPATHIC MEDICAL EDUCATION: Pre-accreditation
COUNCIL ON OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION: Candidate for Accreditation
MIDWIFERY EDUCATION ACCREDITATION COUNCIL: Preaccreditation
TEACHER EDUCATION ACCREDITATION COUNCIL
Accreditation Committee: Pre-accreditation
TRANSNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS: Candidate for Accreditation
What is accreditation? Accreditation is intended to assure constituents and the public of the quality and integrity of higher education institutions and programs, and to help those institutions and programs improve. These outcomes are achieved through rigorous internal and external review processes during which the institution is evaluated against a common set of standards.
When accreditation is awarded to an institution of higher education by a regional/national/specialized accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, it means that the institution has (1) a mission appropriate to higher education, (2) resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain its mission, (3) clearly specified educational objectives that are consistent with its mission and appropriate to the degrees it offers, and that it is (4) successful in assessing its achievement of these objectives and demonstrating improvements. Accreditation is a statement of the institution’s continuing commitment to integrity and its capacity to provide effective programs and services based on agreed-upon accreditation standards.
How can I determine if an institution is accredited?
Discovering whether your school has a stamp of approval can be a painstaking process, but it's an important one, experts say. Many colleges and universities won't accept transfer credits from schools without recognized accreditation and employers often won't pay for their employees to attend them. You can discover whether a specific online university enjoys proper accreditation by examining the following details:
- Look first at what the institution says about itself. If it lists itself as accredited, note the name of the accreditation agency and verify it by using the U.S. Department of Education's official list of such agencies.
- For verification you can also visit the Council of Higher Education's website to discover a particular program's accreditation status. This site requires that you input the institution's name, its home state and country, its accrediting body and the particular program you wish to know about.
- Check with licensing boards before enrolling in an online degree program, because this will allow you to learn whether the laws permits that program to issue the degrees it advertises.
- Consult the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's Office to learn whether the online university in question may indeed operate legally in its home state.
- Research the professional backgrounds and academic qualifications of the faculty members associated with the online university in question.
- Learn whether four-year residential universities do in fact accept course transfer credit from the online university in question.
What is the difference between regional, national and specialized accreditation? Regional accrediting bodies conduct comprehensive reviews of institutions of higher education and operate primarily in a specific geographical area. The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution including reported branch campuses, other instructional sites, online programs, and distance learning modalities. Regional accrediting bodies typically accredit a wide range of institutions offering associate, baccalaureate, masters and/or doctoral degrees.
There are seven regional accrediting associations in the United States comprising eight commissions that grant institution-wide accreditation. (For a list of regional accrediting agencies, please see www.chea.org.) While there are some modest differences in accreditation standards across regions, they operate similarly and all are recognized by the United States Department of Education (U.S.D.E.) to conduct accreditation activities. Regional accrediting bodies also serve a “gate keeper” function for access to Title IV funds.
National accrediting bodies conduct comprehensive reviews of institutions and operate primarily throughout the United States. The accreditation granted encompasses the entire institution. Most of the accredited institutions are private and have missions focused either on career education or religious education. (For a list of national accrediting agencies, please see www.chea.org.)
Specialized or programmatic accrediting bodies conduct focused reviews of a single educational program and operate primarily throughout the United States, although a few operate internationally. Many are recognized by the U.S.D.E. to conduct accreditation activities. (For a list of specialized accrediting agencies, please see www.chea.org.)
What happens if an accredited institution doesn’t meet accreditation standards? Institutions that do not demonstrate that they meet accreditation standards may be asked for monitoring reports, placed on the public sanctions of “Warning” or “Probation,” or dropped from status as a candidate or an accredited institution. (For additional information, please see Sanctions, Denial of Reaffirmation, and Removal from Membership.)
How can I determine if there are any accredited institutions currently on the public sanction of “Warning” or “Probation”? For a list of any institutions on “Warning” or “Probation,” please see Accreditation Actions & Disclosure Statements, and then select from the array of available documents.
What do “Warning” and “Probation” mean? For a description of “Warning” and “Probation,” please see Sanctions, Denial of Reaffirmation, and Removal from Membership.
Accreditation in the United States
Accrediting Agencies Recognized for their Pre-accreditation Categories
Under the terms of the Higher Education Act and other Federal legislation providing funding assistance to post secondary education, an institution or program is eligible to apply for participation in certain Federal programs if, in addition to meeting other statutory requirements, it is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or if it is an institution or program with respect to which the U.S. Secretary of Education has determined that there is satisfactory assurance the institution or program will meet the accreditation standards of such an agency or association within a reasonable time. An institution of program may establish satisfactory assurance of accreditation by acquiring pre-accreditation status with a nationally recognized agency that has been recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education for the award of such status. According to the Criteria for Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies, if an accrediting agency has developed a pre-accreditation status, it must demonstrate that it applies criteria and follows procedures that are appropriately related to those used to award accreditation status. The criteria for recognition also require an agency's standards for pre-accreditation to permit an institution or program to hold pre-accreditation no more than five years.
The following is a list of accrediting agencies recognized for their pre-accreditation categories and the categories that are recognized:
Regional Institutional Accrediting Agencies
MIDDLE STATES COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION: Candidate for Accreditation
NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES:
Commission on Institution of Higher Education : Candidate for Accreditation
NORTH CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS--
The Higher Commission: Candidate for Accreditation
NORTHWEST COMMISSION ON COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: Candidate for Accreditation
SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS--
Commission on Colleges: Candidate for Accreditation
WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES--
Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges: Candidate for Accreditation
Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities: Candidate for Accreditation
National Institutional and Specialized Accrediting Bodies
ACCREDITATION COMMISSION FOR ACUPUNCTURE AND ORIENTAL MEDICINE: Preaccreditation - Candidacy status
ACCREDITATION COMMISSION FOR MIDWIFERY EDUCATION: Preaccreditation
ACCREDITATION COUNCIL FOR PHARMACY EDUCATION: Candidate, Precandidate
AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION--
American Commission on Education in Nutrition and Dietetics: pre-accreditation
AMERICAN OPTOMETRIC ASSOCIATION--
Council on Optometric Education: Reasonable Assurance and Preliminary Approval (for professional degree programs);
Candidacy Pending (for optometric residency programs in Veterans' Administration facilities)AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION--
Bureau of Professional Education: Provisional Accreditation
AMERICAN PHYSICAL THERAPY ASSOCIATION--
Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education: Candidate for Accreditation
AMERICAN PODIATRIC ASSOCIATION--
Council on Podiatric Medical Education: Candidate Status
AMERICAN SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOCIATION--
Council on Academic Accreditation: Candidate Status
AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION--
Council on Education: Reasonable Assurance
ASSOCIATION FOR BIBLICAL HIGHER EDUCATION--
Commission on Accrediting: Candidate for Accreditation
ASSOCIATION OF ADVANCED RABBINICAL AND TALMUDIC SCHOOLS--
Accreditation Commission: Correspondent, Candidate
COMMISSION ON ACCREDITING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS: Candidate for Accredited Membership
COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: Preaccreditation
COUNCIL ON NATUROPATHIC MEDICAL EDUCATION: Pre-accreditation
COUNCIL ON OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION: Candidate for Accreditation
MIDWIFERY EDUCATION ACCREDITATION COUNCIL: Preaccreditation
TEACHER EDUCATION ACCREDITATION COUNCIL
Accreditation Committee: Pre-accreditation
TRANSNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS: Candidate for Accreditation