School Accreditation in the USA:

School Licensing and Accreditation

School licensing and accreditation is performed worldwide. Some accreditation is performed by governments, some is performed by private nonprofit membership associations known as accreditors. It is rare that an educational or vocational training institution would purposely not seek accreditation.

What is School Accreditation?

Accreditation is voluntary process by which a facility's, or school's services and operations are examined by the accrediting agency to determine if applicable standards are met. Should the school meet the accrediting agency's standards, it receives accredited status from the accreditor, which then opens doors to certain benefits and advantages for the school itself, and their students.

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Different States, Different Standards

While the state of Wyoming requires all schools to either be seeking accreditation, or have it, and New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and North Dakota do not accept unaccredited degrees, and Texas requires accreditation to issue a degree, there are many schools in operation that are not approved or accredited by anyone. This is especially true for those "schools" that strictly run distance education programs online.

The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Nasty!

There always is, and will be, a handful of institutions that are not (yet!) accredited, but nevertheless, their education is held in high regard! On the flip side, however, a number of schools have sprung up which the U.S. Department of Education describes as diploma mills. It is important that prospective medical assistant students understand and recognize the difference between licensed and non-licensed programs and what constitutes proper accreditation.

The Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has published the so-called "Recognition Chart" consumers can print out for reference.

REMEMBER!
Accreditation Standards For Online Courses Are Different!

Online training providers, non-traditional universities and so called virtual colleges who offer distance learning programs have different accreditation standards... Online education programs are accreditation through the U.S. Department of Education (governmental) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (non-governmental).

The road to accreditation is not an easy one. For institutions to get accredited by the DETC’s accrediting commission it requires a lot of hard work and hours of preparation. DETC's accrediting commission is officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Education since 1959 and has been formally recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or its predecessor organizations since 1975.

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Distance Education and You