What Is Accreditation and Why Does it Matter?

Accreditation is the seal of approval for institutions of higher education. Similar to USDA and FDA approvals, accreditation assures the public that an institution meets minimum quality standards. Specifically, it assures students that they are going to receive a decent education, and it assures employers that degree-holding job applicants have in fact attained a certain standard of education. In a country with thousands of schools, accreditation is a vitally important means of distinguishing quality institutions from sub-par schools and diploma mills—businesses that simply grant diploma certificates in exchange for money

• Why does Accreditation Matter?
• Who Does the Accrediting? And Who Accredits the Accreditors?
• Types of Accreditation Agencies
• What Happens When a School Loses Accreditation?
• How Are Students Affected When Schools Lose Accreditation?
• Why Do Schools Lose Accreditation?
• What Can Be Done to Protect Against Losing Accreditation?

Why does Accreditation Matter?

Without accreditation, your diploma is basically a meaningless piece of paper in the eyes of potential employers, no matter how hard you worked for it. With accreditation, your diploma testifies to the work you did to get it and the knowledge and skills you attained in the process. Accreditation is especially important for distance learning institutions. Because many online colleges are new and haven't had time to develop the reputation that many traditional brick-and-mortar institutions have, an online school's accreditation status is often all employers have to go on. If you are considering enrolling in a distance education program, make sure it's at an accredited online college.

Accreditation is just as important to schools as it is to employers. If you receive credits from an unaccredited school, it will be almost impossible to transfer them to an accredited one.

Accreditation is also important to the federal government. In order to assure that federal grants are spent responsibly, the Department of Education requires that they be spent on accredited institutions. If you want to receive federal—and often state—financial aid, make sure your school is accredited.

Who Does the Accrediting? And Who Accredits the Accreditors?

Schools are accredited by non-governmental, not-for-profit agencies usually made up of members of accredited educational institutions. Though accreditation agencies are non-governmental, the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education evaluates and approves agencies to ensure that they are competent judges.

Just as there are diploma mills, there are businesses that hand out meaningless accreditation certificates. The U.S. Department of Education or Council for Higher Education approval is proof that an agency's accreditation means something. For a list of government-approved accreditation agencies, you can go to the websites for the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education.

Types of Accreditation Agencies

There are three types of accreditation agencies. The first is regional accreditation agencies. This is the best-respected type of accreditation agency. Regional agencies evaluate entire schools—their educational programs, administration, student services, treatment of students, faculty, and staff, and other areas important to educational quality.

National accreditation agencies also evaluate institutions as a whole, but they accredit more specialized institutions, such as law or technology schools. The standards used by national accreditation agencies are rigorous, but not always as rigorous as those used by regional accreditation agencies. Consequently, accreditation from national agencies is not always as widely accepted as accreditation from regional agencies.

Specialized accreditation agencies evaluate specific programs within institutions. Specialized agencies generally accredit vocational or professional programs, such as Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education or the American Library Association Committee on Accreditation.

Making sure your school or program is accredited is just as important as making sure that the agency that accredited it is approved by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education. The U.S. Department of Education has a useful search database of schools and accreditation agencies that is worth checking out.

What Happens When a School Loses Accreditation?

There are over 7,000 accredited institutes and nearly 20,000 programs across the United States as reported by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA); however, unfortunately, there are also several hundred institutes that, for one reason or another, have lost their accreditation status. Although termination of accreditation is uncommon, it does happen. The Educational Resource Information Centre (ERIC) reports that, during the 1985 to 1990 period, the seven agencies that accredit propriety schools accredited 5585 schools, granted reaccreditation to 2,330 schools, and terminated accreditation to 315 schools.

According to CHEA, accreditation provides the following four benefits, all of which are stripped away when an institute loses its accreditation status:

• Assuring quality of school and programs
• Accessing state and federal funds for students
• Engendering private sector confidence
• Easing transfer credit from one institute to another

How Are Students Affected When Schools Lose Accreditation?

Unfortunately, terminated accreditation will impact the students negatively. The main way is through a lack of financial assistance from the government. Financial aid is only available to students who attend accredited institutes.

Another problem arises when it comes to transferring credits to another institute. Most institutes will not accept credits from unaccredited agencies.

And, finally, although your degree will not be rendered worthless, many employers will only hire those with degrees from accredited institutes. If you complete your degree before the school loses accreditation, you should be safe. However, if you are in the midst of completing your degree while your school is undergoing termination you could be in for a horrifying shock come graduation day.

Why Do Schools Lose Accreditation?

Termination of accreditation happens for a number of reasons. Essentially, when a school fails to meet the standards of accreditation during their follow up evaluation then they will not receive reaccreditation and their status will be put in jeopardy.

According to the CHEA, a loss of standards in the following areas may cause an institute to be put at risk: curricula; faculty; facilities, equipment and supplies; fiscal and administrative capacity; student support services; recruiting and admission practices; measures of program length and objectives; credentials offers; and record of student complaints.

Just like the accreditation process, the termination of accreditation process is a lengthy one and certainly does not happen overnight. If the accrediting commissions find that an institute has pursued a course that, if continued, could lead to more serious sanction, it may be issued a warning. If the school fails to respond to the concerns, it will be issues a probation status by the accrediting commission. It is important to know that neither the probation nor warning status will affect the accredited status. It is only when accreditation is terminated that a student will be negatively impacted.

What Can Be Done to Protect Against Losing Accreditation?

Most students would like a warning before applying to a school on probation. To ensure that your school of choice will still be accredited at the end of your degree, check your school's accreditation agency website which will list the schools currently on probation. For example, if your school of choice is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT), then you can access their website and determine which schools are on probation. The U.S. Department of Ebleducation has a list of all accrediting agencies as well as a database to check your school's current accreditation status.

If you notice that the school you are attending is losing its accreditation, it's best to try to get out as quickly as possible. Most schools will transfer your credits while the school is still accredited. If you act fast, you can transfer your credits and gain your degree at a respected and accredited institute and put the whole nasty situation far behind you.

The best defense against the possibility of accreditation termination is an understanding of the process and as much knowledge about your potential post secondary school as possible.

Article Resources:

Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
Educational Resource Information Centre (ERIC)
Oregon State University
US Department of Education