What Accreditation Means to Online Education

The Value of Legitimate Accreditation

Accreditation of higher education institutions typically indicates an official, Department of Education-sanctioned, review of each academic model. The privilege to advertise one’s accreditation means a general curriculum, or specialty curriculum, has undergone a rigorous review by one of a handful of DOE sanctioned accrediting agencies.

Consider a higher educational plateau of colleges and universities running maverick curriculums, sans checks and balances for quality, conciseness, and with faculty anybodies dispensing “wisdom” in immeasurable quantities. Accreditation aims to corral the academic metrics and apply them to higher educational institutions. But not every college and university is accredited. Accreditation remains a voluntary process. Most that value their reputations now sport the brand, and students seeking online degrees are absolutely encouraged to seek out those programs with the proper accreditation.

Why Accreditation is Important for Online Education

Accreditation has become an important rite of passage for online degree providers that value their products and believe that they offer a high-quality program. Distance learning has been marked by more than just quality issues, but with a general negative image of Internet academia. Pioneers to the realm of online education value the distinction of accreditation more than any others—in some cases they have fought uphill battles to overstep the qualifications necessary for accreditation and to prove worthy of educational products equal to brick and mortar institutions.

Accreditation Criteria

Accrediting agencies have general criteria by which they measure an institution’s academic worthiness. Online colleges and universities undergo a multi-faceted process of accreditation that does not take place overnight. Accreditation agents typically visit a physical campus and/or administrative offices, examine institutional infrastructure, and make certain that credentialed faculty and academic processes are legitimate and in tact. Each institution is also held accountable for its own self-evaluation. Criteria used to measure academic worth include:

• Institutional mission.
• Ability to evaluate and modify academic models to accommodate future growth.
• Effective curriculum, qualified faculty, and evidence of measurable learning.
• Support of faculty and students and evidence of vision to support their work outside academic parameters.
• Involvement with community, both regional and global.

Degree and Accreditation Mills

In the world of online education, there remain low-quality programs that do not offer the same degree value. And low-quality aside, there are plenty of online degree fraudsters that literally sell illegitimate degrees to misled and degree-hungry consumers. Degree and diploma mills manage to feed on consumers’ ignorance and zeal for a college degree. Degrees “conferred” based on life experience may seem ridiculous, but plenty of individuals have been stung by this real world ploy. Wouldn’t it be nice if the total of your work and personal experiences actually could be valued in degree form? Counterfeit colleges and universities have even become so sophisticated that they operate under the umbrella of non-sanctioned accreditation. Which means that the term “accredited” may be worthless to U.S. higher education.

Weighing Accreditation

Legitimate colleges and universities in the U.S. may be accredited by one or more DOE recognized accrediting agencies. Some accreditors are responsible for general curriculums, while others are charged with specialized programs, such as teaching, nursing, psychology, and many others. Consumers shopping for quality online degrees and professional education are advised to assure academic quality by ascertaining a college or university’s distance education accreditation with one of those listed with the DOE.