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Online Graduate Degree FAQ
Are online schools accredited?
Answer: To adequately answer this question, we need to define what accreditation actually means. The idea is that if a school is accredited, then an employer is assured that a graduate from that school has a certain level of education, which is deemed to meet a minimum standard of quality. It is important to know that accreditation is voluntary and not a governmental review or standard requirement.
There are two primary forms of accreditation recognized in the United States; Regional and National.
Regional accreditation is the oldest form of accreditation and is the most common denominator found in most traditional colleges and universities. There are six accrediting agencies in the U.S. and all are listed by the U.S. Department of Education as nationally recognized accrediting agencies.
Over the past two decades, we have witnessed the emergence of additional accrediting agencies that pay particular attention to specific fields and types of study. Because these agencies are not geographically categorized, they are known as National Accreditation agencies. Included in this group is the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). The majority of schools that offer online degrees hold accreditation through the DETC, which was founded in 1926, and is listed by the United States Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency.
You can check to see whether or not your school is accredited via the college search database. Enter the school name and view their accreditation data.
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