What Does Accreditation have to do with Me?

When looking into adult education you have many choices to make. Should I go to a ground based school, a web based school, a technical college, a community college, a proprietary school, and the list goes on and on. One of the most important points to look into is accreditation.

The main issue behind accreditation the acceptability of your education or degree by other college or the profession you seek. There are many accreditation boards and they work with different colleges in the area in which they operate. These boards give the college or university the rules by which they are to function. Contact hours, program hours, courses to teach, teaching credentials and just about any other area of the college is governed by these accreditation boards.

While the local or national Board of Education may license a school to operate it is the accreditation body that examines the school's operation and approves the school. This being said there are professional accreditation bodies who oversee specific programs of study; specifically medical, legal, and accounting, a college or a university maybe accredited by several different accreditation boards at the same time.

The best idea when looking into a college of university is to look into the accreditation board and its acceptance in the area you wish to study. In addition, look into the next higher area of education to which you are seeking. If you are going for a diploma program what college or university will offer an Associates Degree based on your diploma and so on. While you may not be looking for a higher degree today you may in the future and you do not want the money or time you spent on your course not to be accepted by another college.

Just because you have a piece of paper saying you have a Associates Degree or a Bachelor Degree doesn't mean your courses will transfer to another college or another field of study. Often proprietary education facilities (for-profit colleges) are accredited by a different board then a state college (not-for-profit). Some of this maybe due to academic snobbery but much of it has to do with accreditation issues.

Comparing one college to another who are under a different accreditation body is like comparing apples to oranges. College A may require that all instructors be PhDs while College B requires a Masters to be an instructor. College A requires 96 credit hours for a degree as does College B but the courses covered in College A are of a much higher level or of different quality then that of College B. In reality it is really a way to assure that you will succeed in the next college is by comparing accreditations or apples to apples.

Sometimes you can force the point by barging your admittance to a university or college. Either, they take this course or these courses or you will go to another school. Sometimes that will work but best to avoid it all together. Investigate the school's accreditation first. Call around, will your degree transfer to another school if you want to advance your degree later on, will the degree travel? Ask around your network what are others experiences with the transferability of credits?

Learn more about this author, David Wortman.
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