| e growth of accredited colleges that offer online | | | | accredited college’s level of quality will help to |
| accredited degrees, starting or finally finishing a | | | | avoid diploma mills where students receive a useless |
| college degree could be a breeze. Before selecting an | | | | piece of paper after spending thousands of dollars. |
| accredited online university, there are some important | | | | Another reason to get an accredited online college |
| steps to take for ensuring educational success. | | | | degree over one that is not accredited is that |
| Accredited colleges are schools that receive the | | | | employers or another university will more likely |
| stamp of approval from education boards. These | | | | accept it as valid proof of a solid educational |
| boards carefully scrutinize to determine if the | | | | experience. |
| programs and policies meet specific criteria. If the | | | | To find leading schools, many online directories list |
| school fulfills the minimum criteria, it then can market | | | | fully accredited online colleges. Additionally, the United |
| itself as an accredited online college. | | | | States Department of Education and the Council for |
| Currently, there are six approved accreditation | | | | Higher Education Accreditation have resources that |
| organizations: | | | | help students find top accredited online schools. |
| * New England Association of Schools and Colleges | | | | Take the time to do the homework on the |
| * North Central Association Commission on | | | | accredited colleges you are considering for an |
| Accreditation and School Improvement | | | | accredited online college degree. This includes doing |
| * Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges | | | | research on the courses being offered at each |
| * Southern Association of Schools and Colleges | | | | school, the professors’ experience, length of |
| * Western Association of Schools and Colleges | | | | time that the school has been established, the |
| * Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges | | | | enrollment and diploma rate, and whether or not |
| The Distance Learning Training Council has also been | | | | there are quantitative results on where students |
| approved to appoint online colleges with a national | | | | have found employment after getting their |
| accreditation. Be wary, as many regional accredited | | | | accredited online degrees. |
| online colleges do not accept credits from national | | | | Scan the Internet for other students that attend a |
| accredited colleges. | | | | particular accredited online college and find out what |
| Look for colleges online that are regionally accredited, | | | | success they have achieved with their online |
| as this is considered to be the most widely accepted | | | | accredited degrees. Lastly, be sure to use common |
| form of accreditation used in the United States. It is | | | | sense. While it would be ideal to get a degree in a |
| important to select only accredited online universities. | | | | matter of weeks or months, there are no fully |
| This protects students from schools selling | | | | accredited online degrees that can be achieved in |
| fraudulent degrees. Having this guarantee on the | | | | such short of a time. |