Insights of Accreditation
Requirements for licensing and/or authorization for educational
institutions vary from state to state in the United States. Most
states require that a learning institution be certified,
authorized and/or accredited in order to award degrees to
students. There are some schools out there that do not meet
these requirements. In fact, there are several levels of fraud
found in some educational programs and "schools." They range
from using the student's work history as the "learning" period
that earned the degree to simply selling diplomas. These "diploma mills" have
been around for decades. Online degrees programs like
Degrees-R-Us promise a bachelor's, masters or doctoral degree in
about 10 days. (There is a higher tuition fee if you want to
graduate with honors!)
Now, however, there are some states (Oregon, Iowa, and South
Dakota) that are cracking down on schools within their borders
that grant degrees without any type of approval and legitimate
accreditation. There are also some states (Wyoming, Montana, and
Hawaii) that allow unaccredited universities to do business as
long as they have a physical presence in the state. The problem
is that when a state does pass legislation that requires
accreditation, those schools simply change addresses (when you
don't have a campus, it's not that difficult to move). The
question of jurisdiction also comes into play. If the
institution has an address in one state but sends out degrees
from another state, then which state is responsible for it?
For this reason, the most important thing to check out before
you begin any kind of distance learning program is the
accreditation the school has, or claims to have. Simply having a
statement about being "licensed by the state" isn't an
accreditation and may not mean anything at all. There have been
many violators that claim accreditation from agencies that
either don't exist, have been created by the school itself, or
are legitimate agencies but have no record of accreditation for
the school. Students who are enrolled or have completed degrees
from schools that are not accredited have wasted a lot of time,
money, and effort on a degree that may be rejected by potential
employers. Credits from schools that are not accredited cannot
be transferred to other universities.
There are several state-based and regional accrediting bodies.
Each is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. To find
out whether the school is truly accredited, contact the
appropriate State Department of Higher Education.
Tribulations with non-accredited schools
some of these violators have been awarding diplomas and degrees
for decades. Courts that have shut them down have cited problems
like: * Too few qualified faculty members to maintain the number
of students or level of education * Too much credit given for
previous life and work experience without properly determining
the actual level of knowledge * Not having course objectives *
Awarding PhDs to students who haven't performed the type of
research and analysis typically required of such a degree
Basically, the problem relates to the schools having substandard
requirements for earned degrees. Some programs even allow
students to earn masters or doctoral degrees without having
first earned a bachelors degree. The Best of the
Practices
The best bet is to stick with a known, reputable university or
college that is offering online life experience degrees.
That school's reputation will be at stake so it is more likely
to have the same quality online as offline. Of course, there are
some good programs from universities that are strictly online.
According to an article by a former student at the University of
Phoenix Online, many students feel as connected with other
students as they would if they were on a campus attending
classes in the traditional way.