College Accreditation: What It Is and Why It Is Important
What is college accreditation?
Accreditation is when an institution of higher learning has successfully gone through an evaluation by a recognized accreditation agency to ensure that it meets acceptable levels of quality. Legitimate accrediting agencies are almost always recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). There are six regional accrediting agencies that are the primary agencies but there are over 50 other recognized accrediting agencies in the United States.
There are two types of accrediting agencies: Institutional agencies that grant accreditation to an entire institution and specialized agencies, also known as programmatic agencies, that grant accreditation to a specific program, department or school that is part of an institution or is sometimes a stand-alone specialized institution.
Why should students be concerned about accreditation?
The accreditation process is a critical component of higher education for a number of reasons. These include:
- Quality education – Accreditation ensures that a school is providing a quality education that meets national standards.
- Financial Aid – Only schools that are accredited by a recognized agency are eligible to offer federal and state financial aid to their students.
- Employment – Employers value accredited schools more highly and many will not hire applicants who earned their degrees at unaccredited schools.
- Transfers – When transferring to another school, a student is typically only allowed to transfer credits from an accredited school and many graduate programs will only accept applicants with a degree from an accredited school. There is also a difference between regionally accredited schools and nationally accredited schools that can impact the ability to transfer credits and to get accepted to graduate school. For more information, see the BrainTrack article Understanding The Types Of Accreditation And Agencies.
- Online Schools – Students considering online schools should be especially concerned about accreditation since it is more common for these types of schools to be unaccredited or be accredited by a non-recognized agency. To learn more about accreditation relative to online schools, see BrainTrack's article Detecting Diploma Mills.
How do accreditation agencies determine whether a school should be accredited?
Standards are set by each accrediting agency which are then used as a basis for evaluation of each institution that is requesting accreditation. The school first completes a thorough self-evaluation that measures its performance against the standards set by the accrediting agency. Then a team from the agency performs an on-site evaluation. If these evaluations satisfy the agency's standards, it will grant accreditation and publish results in an official publication.
Accreditation is granted for a specific time period during which time the school is monitored to ensure they continue to meet the agency's standards. This time-period varies and is determined by the accrediting agency. As the accreditation period is coming to an end, the school will be re-evaluated.
How does an agency become recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education?
The U.S. Department of Education is required to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies that it considers to be reliable authorities as to whether a school meets standards of quality education. Agencies that want to be recognized apply for recognition and indicate the scope of accreditation that they are applying for. This can include geographic scope (national or a list of states), type of institution such vocational, distance education, etc. and particular fields of study. The agency must provide information about their accreditation standards, policies and procedures and financial statements, among many other topics.
Agencies can function as an accrediting agency before being granted recognition and generally need to have at least two years experience functioning as an agency before they will be recognized. They have to apply for renewal of accreditation each time their recognition period is ending or if they are requesting an expansion in scope.
Why are there so many accrediting agencies?
There is no one accrediting agency that has the scope to accredit all institutions of higher education. Regional agencies typically accredit academically-oriented, non-profit, degree-granting institutions. National agencies tend to limit their scope to certain types of schools such as vocational training institutions, private institutions, Christian colleges, etc.
Additionally, there are specialized agencies that provide accreditation to programs or institutions providing training in fields as specific as healthcare management, physical therapy, funeral service education and midwifery. In some fields, such as social work and some health-care professions, a person cannot be licensed to work if they did not graduate from an institution accredited by the appropriate specialized agency. In other fields, this type of accreditation provides added assurance that the program has been reviewed specifically by an agency that specializes in that field.
BrainTrack's article Understanding The Types Of Accreditation And Agencies provides additional details about the various types of agencies.
Resources
U.S. Department of Education: Accreditation in the United States
Council for Higher Education Accreditation
National Association of State Administrators and Supervisors of Private Schools
Online Course Finder
Find the path to your
education in 3 easy steps.