| Requirements for licensing and/or authorization for | | | | or have completed degrees from schools that are not |
| educational institutions vary from state to state in the | | | | accredited have wasted a lot of time, money, and |
| United States. Most states require that a learning | | | | effort on a degree that may be rejected by potential |
| institution be certified authorized and/or accredited in | | | | employers. Credits from schools that are not |
| order to award accredited degrees to students. There | | | | accredited cannot be transferred to other universities. |
| are some schools out there that do not meet these | | | | There are several state-based and regional |
| requirements. In fact, there are several levels of fraud | | | | accrediting bodies. Each is recognized by the U.S. |
| found in some educational programs and "schools." | | | | Department of Education. |
| They range from using the student's work history as | | | | To find out whether the school is truly accredited, |
| the "learning" period that earned the degree to simply | | | | contact the appropriate State Department of Higher |
| selling diplomas. These "diploma mills" have been | | | | Education. Tribulations with non-accredited schools |
| around for decades. Online degrees programs like | | | | some of these violators have been awarding diplomas |
| Degrees-R-Us promise a bachelor's, masters or | | | | and degrees for decades. |
| doctoral degree in about 10 days. (There is a higher | | | | Courts that have shut them down have cited |
| tuition fee if you want to graduate with honors!) Now, | | | | problems like: |
| however, there are some states (Oregon, Iowa, and | | | | Too few qualified faculty members to maintain the |
| South Dakota) that are cracking down on schools | | | | number of students or level of education Too much |
| within their borders that grant degrees without any | | | | credit given for previous life and work experience |
| type of approval and legitimate accreditation. There | | | | without properly determining the actual level of |
| are also some states (Wyoming, Montana, and Hawaii) | | | | knowledge Not having course objectives Awarding |
| that allow unaccredited universities to do business as | | | | PhDs to students who haven't performed the type of |
| long as they have a physical | | | | research and analysis typically required of such a |
| presence in the state. The problem is that when a | | | | degree |
| state does pass legislation that requires accreditation, | | | | |
| those schools simply change addresses (when you | | | | Basically, the problem relates to the schools having |
| don't have a campus, it's not that difficult to move). | | | | substandard requirements for earned degrees. Some |
| The question of jurisdiction also comes into play. If the | | | | programs even allow students to earn masters or |
| institution has an address in one state but sends out | | | | doctoral degrees without having first earned a |
| degrees from another state, then which state is | | | | bachelors degree. The best bet is to stick with a |
| responsible for it? | | | | known, reputable university or college that is offering |
| For this reason, the most important thing to check out | | | | life experience degree. That school's reputation will be |
| before you begin any kind of distance learning | | | | at stake so it is more likely to have the same quality |
| program is the accreditation the school has, or claims | | | | online as offline. Of course, there are some good |
| to have. Simply having a statement about being | | | | programs from universities that are strictly online. |
| "licensed by the state" isn't an accreditation and may | | | | According to an article by a former student at the |
| not mean anything at all. There have been many | | | | University of Phoenix Online, many students feel as |
| violators that claim accreditation from agencies that | | | | connected with other students as they would if they |
| either don't exist, have been created by the school | | | | were on a campus attending classes in the traditional |
| itself, or are legitimate agencies but have no record of | | | | way. |
| accreditation for the school. Students who are enrolled | | | | |