Online Accredited Degrees - What is Accreditation?

As simply put as possible accreditation is a process of evaluating a learning institution against established educational standards done by accreditation agencies. These standards include taking stock of the teachers, goals, resources, and overall quality of education provided by a school or higher learning institution.

In the United States accreditation is not a government function but is instead handled by regional and national accreditation agencies. This can make finding actual accredited online degree programs a bit harder to do because shady colleges or "diploma mills" will throw out confusing terms in an attempt to mislead students. A good place to check to see if a college, university, or online degree program you are considering is accredited is the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Another good place to check into online degree program accreditation is the Distance Education and Training Council. The U.S. Department of Education might also be a useful resource to you. Links to these organizations can be found on our Online Education Resources page.

We feel you should only consider accredited degrees when you contemplate any kind of online degree. Non accredited online degrees are less likely to be recognized by other colleges and universities, meaning credits will not transfer if you want to attend another school in the future. And for people looking to help their careers, non accredited online degrees are not usually viewed very favorably by employers either. Accreditation is not a complete guarantee of quality in an education program but a school that has not submitted to the voluntary process of accreditation by some type of reputable accreditation agency should be viewed with great skepticism.