What does it mean for an online college to be accredited?

[Justins]

I'm try to decide about online college and I keep finding all sorts of information about a college must be accredited. What does this mean? how does it help me?

[Smtih]

It means that the college is recognized by the accrediting agencies that also accredit traditional colleges, in the sense that it offers quality education that is at par with regular college. It also helps incase you want to transfer credits from one college to another, you can't do this if the college is not accredited. Also incase you'd want to apply for financial aid or other grants, this is only possible through an accredited college. Most employers also don't recognize degrees acquired from colleges that don't have legitimate accreditation.

You can get more information about why college accreditation is important to your education from: http://www.distance-learning-college-guide.com/

[SunShine]

On the same theme, please HELP. I have found out that my TEFL course, instead of being accredited by the University of Birmingham as they claimed , is accredited by some obscure College in the States, whose website doesn't give an email address. I desperate need to know how to make an official complaint against this school as it appears to be a cowboy outfit. It is a franchise, owned by an American company. Any idea how to go about it?

[systematic]

I'm try to decide about online college and I keep finding all sorts of information about a college must be accredited. What does this mean? how does it help me?

Hi Justins,
You'll find a topic on this board which debates your question in depth HERE.
I wax sarcastic in some of my comments, but I think you will find that the contributors to the thread have provided some very informative background on the topic.

[johnricky]

@ sunshine
I suggest you to visit USDE(UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION). Actually, they maintain a database, which contains information about all the accredited schools. More over, once you consult them they will tell you how to penalize those DIPLOMA MILLS and will most probably help you in recovering your losses.

@ justin
I would just build on the discussion made so far about accreditation of schools. Accreditation, in particular the accredited online schools means that degree you secure would help you apply for any university later on without any fear of being rejected for having an unreliable degree. Very recently, reports came where universities showed reluctance in acknowledging some of the online degrees; but those online schools that had proven accreditation were able to convince universities to accept them as reliable education providers.