| Requirements for licensing and/or authorization for | | | | accreditation for the school. Students who are |
| educational institutions vary from state to state in | | | | enrolled or have completed degrees from schools |
| the United States. Most states require that a | | | | that are not accredited have wasted a lot of |
| learning institution be certified, authorized and/or | | | | time, money, and effort on a degree that may |
| accredited in order to award degrees to students. | | | | be rejected by potential employers. Credits from |
| There are some schools out there that do not | | | | schools that are not accredited cannot be |
| meet these requirements. In fact, there are | | | | transferred to other universities. |
| several levels of fraud found in some educational | | | | There are several state-based and regional |
| programs and "schools." They range from using | | | | accrediting bodies. Each is recognized by the U.S. |
| the student's work history as the "learning" period | | | | Department of Education. |
| that earned the degree to simply selling diplomas. | | | | To find out whether the school is truly accredited, |
| These "diploma mills" have been around for | | | | contact the appropriate State Department of |
| decades. Online degrees programs like | | | | Higher Education. |
| Degrees-R-Us promise a bachelor's, masters or | | | | Tribulations with non-accredited schools |
| doctoral degree in about 10 days. (There is a | | | | Some of these violators have been awarding |
| higher tuition fee if you want to graduate with | | | | diplomas and degrees for decades. Courts that |
| honors!) | | | | have shut them down have cited problems like: |
| Now, however, there are some states (Oregon, | | | | - Too few qualified faculty members to maintain |
| Iowa, and South Dakota) that are cracking down | | | | the number of students or level of education |
| on schools within their borders that grant degrees | | | | - Too much credit given for previous life and |
| without any type of approval and legitimate | | | | work experience without properly determining the |
| accreditation. There are also some states | | | | actual level of knowledge |
| (Wyoming, Montana, and Hawaii) that allow | | | | - Not having course objectives |
| unaccredited universities to do business as long as | | | | - Awarding PhDs to students who haven't |
| they have a physical presence in the state. The | | | | performed the type of research and analysis |
| problem is that when a state does pass legislation | | | | typically required of such a degree |
| that requires accreditation, those schools simply | | | | Basically, the problem relates to the schools |
| change addresses (when you don't have a | | | | having substandard requirements for earned |
| campus, it's not that difficult to move). The | | | | degrees. Some programs even allow students to |
| question of jurisdiction also comes into play. If the | | | | earn masters or doctoral degrees without having |
| institution has an address in one state but sends | | | | first earned a bachelors degree. |
| out degrees from another state, then which state | | | | The Best of the Practices |
| is responsible for it? | | | | The best bet is to stick with a known, reputable |
| For this reason, the most important thing to | | | | university or college that is offering accredited |
| check out before you begin any kind of distance | | | | degrees. That school's reputation will be at stake |
| learning program is the accreditation the school | | | | so it is more likely to have the same quality online |
| has, or claims to have. Simply having a statement | | | | as offline. Of course, there are some good |
| about being "licensed by the state" isn't an | | | | programs from universities that are strictly online. |
| accreditation and may not mean anything at all. | | | | According to an article by a former student at |
| There have been many violators that claim | | | | the University of Phoenix Online, many students |
| accreditation from agencies that either don't exist, | | | | feel as connected with other students as they |
| have been created by the school itself, or are | | | | would if they were on a campus attending classes |
| legitimate agencies but have no record of | | | | in the traditional way. |