The U.S. system of accreditation is unique and far more complicated than accreditation in other countries. We do not have a ministry of education that accredits educational programs. Instead, the United States government, through the Department of Education (USDE), recognizes private accrediting agencies for having appropriately high standards for awarding their own accreditation. This does not mean all accrediting agencies recognized by USDE are cookie cutter identical. Far from it. USDE allows considerable latitude in meeting recognition requirements and the specific details of  accreditation vary from one accrediting agency to another. The USDE only wants to assure that the end product is reasonably equivalent and of high quality.

The United States government also recognizes the authority of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (a private voluntary association of educational institutions) to recognize accrediting associations in competition with the USDE. Thus, some accrediting agencies are recognized by USDE, some are recognized by CHEA, and some by both.

In the United States, degree programs are accredited by  a regional accrediting agency, the national level Distance Education and Training Council, or an profession sponsored accrediting agency. Sometimes a degree may be issued under several accreditations. For example, a psychology degree might be issued by a program accredited by the American Psychological Association and the program may be located within a school accredited by its regional accrediting agency.

This complex system opens the door to fraud. With so many agencies, there is naturally some confusion amongst consumers of education.

A disreputable person can take advantage of this confusion by setting up an official sounding accrediting agency and using it to accredit their own degree programs. Then they can publish “Our programs are fully accredited.” But they are accredited by an unrecognized accrediting agency (usually run out of a postal box) that has no real review process and the accreditation is worthless. Actually, it is worse than worthless. A fraudulently accredited degree has negative value.

To further complicate matters, not every unrecognized accrediting agency is fraudulent.  Some are sincere efforts to find a viable alternative to traditionalist regional accrediting agencies for accrediting distance-only colleges. They are operating with the clear intention of seeking recognition from USDE or CHEA. Still, these are few and far between. Most unrecognized agencies are attempts to deceive the public and should be viewed with a skeptical eye.

So, to know if the claimed accreditation is has merit, you must look to lists of agencies recognized by the United States Department of Education (governmental recognition) and/or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (educational industry recognition).

If the accrediting agency is recognized by either USDE or CHEA, the accreditation is valid. Otherwise, it is worthless.

When DegreeFinders researches distance degrees for a client, we report only on schools accredited by an agency recognized by USDE or CHEA as having authority to accredit college level degree, diploma, and certificate programs. We will report on unaccredited but seemingly honest schools only on request and only after we have had an opportunity to actively discourage it. Too many people, including the founder of DegreeFinders, have been sorely disappointed by these schools.

DegreeFinders will not accept any client who wants us to hook them up with degree mills and diploma services. We do not want their money or their company.

Despite our "loud" declaration on the opening page of this site, we get a steady stream of letters asking us to find a degree and supporting transcripts requiring only the submission of a resume and a check. Our answer is always the same. "Please read the declaration on our home page. We absolutely will not perform such a service."

People think they are being clever and they are going to pull a fast one on a potential employer or a licensing agency. They do not quite grasp that the 1950s are over. Every licensing agency and every human resources department of any size has one or more reference books that list the status of every registered institution of higher learning in the country. Many of these references are available on CD to make them more affordable. Some offer subscriptions to keep updated by email or Internet.

The only one you are fooling is yourself. Every day you show up for work, your resume is sitting in someone's file cabinet, going tick, tick, tick .... You have to keep a low profile. You don't want to do too good a job and call attention to yourself. Tick, tick, tick ....

By the way, applying for a job with a phony degree is punishable almost everywhere as fraud. In my own state of Oregon, it is even considered fraud to use any unaccredited degree -- legitimate or not --  in any public way. They aren't fooling either. Public use of an unaccredited degree in Oregon is punishable by fine and imprisonment! This basically means you can display your diploma in a bathroom used only by family members.

Here is where it really gets complicated. A school of business may be accredited by one or many recognized accrediting agencies. Theoretically, at least, the degree should be accepted by other accredited colleges. Sometimes, though, people have problems getting their degrees accepted by regionally accredited graduate schools which hold the belief that regional accreditation is somehow “superior” to specialized accreditation.

This, of course, is not fair. It is my understanding that, as far as USDE or CHEA is concerned, accreditation given by DETC has equal standing to accreditation granted by another other nationally recognized agency but the practical reality is often different; regionally accredited schools often hold the view that DETC accreditation is somehow second rate. I just thought I should warn you about this potential problem.

To further complicate matters, the opposite situation can exist with professional versus regional accreditation. For some business and credentialing situations, professional accreditation by a nationally recognized agency sponsored by the business community or by a profession may carry more weight than accreditation by either DETC or one of the regional accreditors.

The identical situation applies in some professions. Accreditation by the American Psychological Association is far more important to a professional level psychologist than regional accreditation. The same goes for National League of Nursing accreditation for nurses.

Some very respectable schools are not members of professional accrediting agencies and are satisfied to stick with regional accreditation only. Some decline membership by choice because they want to offer courses differing in content and or methodology from those proscribed by accrediting agencies. Others say the ridiculous amount it costs for the accreditation process could better be used on academic priorities.

But, you must be very careful— almost all diploma mills say the same thing to explain why they are not accredited!

Truth is: Most schools are not accredited simply because they could not qualify academically or because they do not meet the standards for financial stability.

These matters of approvals and accreditations are not simple here in the United States. In most countries, accreditation is handled by a ministry of the central government and a college either is or isn't accredited and that's all there is to it.

For most situations, I think the most important thing is that the program is accredited by some accrediting agency recognized by U.S. Department of  Education or by Council on Higher Education Accreditation. Which one is probably less important unless you intend to apply to very competitive positions directly after finishing school. Otherwise, after you have worked a few years, your work performance will count just as much or more than your degree.
Now that you understand the basics of accreditation, it will be up to you to decide how much risk you are willing to take in this regard.

Using a fake degree with a phony accreditation, you can lose your job, be blackballed by your profession; you can even go to prison for fraud. It simply is not worth it. There are plenty of accredited distance degrees available.

That's U.S. accreditation in a nutshell. If you are thinking about enrolling in a degree program and want to know more about accredition, you are in luck! DegreeFinders recently finished
Special Report: Everything you need to know about college accreditation to avoid being ripped off.