How Do I Know If A School Is Accredited?

Since I worked in a Charter School and I now attend a Distance Education program.  I get the "how do I know if a school is accredited?" question a lot.

Here are few quick tips:

*Approximately 1/5 of degree-granting institutions operating legally in the US are not are accredited.

*Currently there are no authoritative lists of institutions/providers.

*There are two types of accreditation: institutional or programmatic

*The 6 regional commissions and associations:

*Middle States Commission on Higher Education
*New England Association of Colleges and Schools
*Northwest Association of Accredited Schools
*Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
*Western Association of Schools and Colleges
*North Central Association of Colleges and Schools  (the easiest, that is why Phoenix is accredited even though they are physically based in the SW)

*Although there is no national official government agency for accreditation the Council for Higher Education Accreditation is sponsored by the U S Department of Education as the primary national voice for voluntary accreditation and quality assurance.  The United States Distance Learning Association is another organization that gives approval to programs.

*Google your school's name and the keyword accreditation.  If one of these accreditation organizations don't pop up, I would be wary.

*Another litmus test would be, when researching a distance education program, ask them do they offer financial aid.  The US government will not offer financial aid for an unaccredited school. 


UPDATE: The Council for Higher Education Accreditation http://www.chea.org/ has a database that you can look up any school with to see their accreditation status (make sure it matches one of the 6 mentioned above) 


See also: The Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs