People who are looking for any online degree program will concerns about accreditation because accreditation is the keyword that differentiates online degree programs that are recognized and offered by reputable online colleges than degrees offer by diploma mills. But this keyword had been abused by diploma mills and most of fake’s online degree programs offer in the market are now claimed accreditation. Hence, you must be a smart consumer when searching for your favorite online degree program and beware of any sign that shows the potential of diploma mill. This article will outline some hints and alerts that you must be aware of when searching for an online degree.
Why Accreditation is Important?
Accreditation provides assurance on the online degree program which you are enrolled or are considering enrolling has met the education guideline of national standards in the profession and the degree you earned or going to earn is recognized and accepted in the job market. Accreditation is not only important to students; it also serves as a guide to employers who are going to hire those graduates, it indicates that these candidates have met the required education standard on the field written in their degree.
How to differentiate “Fakes” & Real Accredited Online Degrees
“Fake” and real online degrees look so alike until sometimes it creates confusion to us. That’s why there are still many people who accidentally signed up the online degree programs offered by diploma mill, and then applying for a job with these fake degrees and get rejected by employers.
The fact is all “fakes” online degrees do claim accreditation nowadays; hence, you can’t just look at the word “accreditation” that attached to any online degree program and think that it is fine to enroll into this program. If it is a “real” online degree, you are lucky, but by chance it may be a degree program that is offered by diploma mills and accredited by a “fakes” accreditation agency; you will waste your time and money when you find out that you have earned a “fake” degree that does not help in your career. Hence, it worth to spend some time to confirm the degree program that you are going to enroll is properly accredited by an accreditation agency recognized by US Department of Education.
Which accreditation agencies are recognized by US Department of Education? There are two categories of accreditation agencies: National Institutional & Specialized Accrediting Agencies and Regional Institutional Accrediting Agencies. All the online universities and colleges accredited by these two groups of accrediting agencies are listed in accreditation database of ed.gov, website of US Education Of Department. So, the accreditation database of ed.gov is a good place to check whether your selected online university and online degree program are property accredited by one of these accreditation agencies.
Another place to check for listed accreditation agency is CHEA.org, it is a non-profit organization of colleges and universities serving as the national advocate for voluntary self-regulation through accreditation. Any accrediting agency or online university that is not list in this accreditation database, it needs to trigger your alert on diploma mills.
Summary
An accredited online degree program does not give assurance on it educational quality if it is not accredited by a proper accreditation agency that is recognized by the US Department of Department. You need to ensure that the online degree program that you are enrolling or considering enrolling is properly accredited in order to ensure the value of your degree you going to earn.
By: Amelia Turner
About the Author:
Amelia Turner is the author from http://www.your-online-degree.infoVisit her website if you want more FREE and detailed information on choosing the right Online Degree, accredited online schools and other online education information.
