Accredited Online Degrees
There are several questions relating to accredited degrees online. Accreditation itself is full of pitfalls. There are universities that claim to be accredited (but really aren't), while on the other hand there are universities that are not accredited but are still recognized in some areas.
Accreditation is intended to regulate funding availability. Students cannot receive federal or state funding from a non-accredited university. Degree mills claim to be accredited, but the accreditation is not from a body that is recognized by the CHEA (The Council for Higher Education Accreditation).
The CHEA and the US Department of Education (USDE) are both official bodies that list accrediting bodies that are official and do give authorized accreditation. In the end, the notion of accreditation is an indication of the broad acceptance and legitimacy of a degree offered by the university or college (online or on campus).
Three Frequently Asked Questions About Accreditation
There are three basic questions concerning accreditation. The answers to these are jointly confusing:
- Can you get an accredited degree online?
Absolutely. There are many institutions online that are offering perfectly legitimate and accredited degrees that are recognized around the world. - Are all universities (online and otherwise) who say they are accredited really accredited
No. Some universities offer degrees for sale, basically. If you want a legitimate degree you are going to have to earn it. You can learn more in our page on Diploma Mills and "Life Experience Degrees" Online - Are all good universities accredited?
No. This is the third part of the triangle that makes things confusing. There are a few examples of online universities that are well received in some quarters but are not accredited.
One example of this is ITT. ITT has satellites in many states, and not all of its individual "institutes" are state-accredited. In spite of this fact, many ITT graduates do have successful and rewarding careers.
ITT accreditation does vary from one campus to the next, and some high positions in the IT industry are held by ITT graduates.
Reasons for any university not achieving accreditation can vary from the fact that core faculty do not have PhDs to the fact that it does not have a racially or ethnically diverse body. In the case of online technical universities, this last provision can be hindering.
