Accreditation Mills
Are you looking for an online school that has accreditation? This is very important if you want to be able to find a job after you are done your schooling. But aren’t all schools accredited? One would think that each online school and offline school they go to would not operate unless they were accredited but that is not the truth at all. In fact, many of the schools out there go to an accreditation mill in order to make it look like they are.
An accreditation mill is an organization that gives accreditation to an online school or any other school. However, what most people don’t know is that these accreditations are not recognized by the government or by the academic world. And while many people only associate this with an online school, the truth of the matter is that offline schools have been doing this for many years before online.
Another term you may have heard about is a diploma mill. What all of these places have in common is that they have very low standards and offer accreditation and degrees, and those that go to an online school would never know the difference. What’s more, often times an independent school will set up its own accreditation organization just to turn around and give their school accreditation. If you want to make sure your online school has the right kind of accreditation here is some information to help you ensure you choose the right one.
What are the Government Rules?
One of the most important things to first check is which countries require government accreditation. For instance, in the U.S., it is government that must recognize an accreditation organization before it will be considered on the up-and-up. In fact, there are only 18 of these organizations that are recognized to give out accreditation in the U.S. So if your online school is in the U.S., or even in Europe, make sure you find out what the government regulations are.
Never Be Afraid to Check
When you decide to go to an online school you are making a decision to spend a lot of time and money to further your education. Because of this you will want to ensure that the online school of your choice is in fact accredited. Often times what will happen is they are not accredited and after all that time and money was spent you will not be able to get a job. So make sure you contact the online school and ask them to send you proof of their accreditation.
But don’t leave it there. When you get the proof in from your prospective online school you should always call the accreditation organization to find out if they are recognized by the government. Also, the US Department of education has a website which lists all the organizations that it recognizes. Most often accreditation mills do not expect you to look into whether or not they are recognized so this is a definite advantage that you have when looking into an online school.
What is the School Like?
While it can be hard to tell if an online school is actually accredited, there are a few ways that you can watch out for in order to get an idea of the truth:
- If you are looking into an online school that has a very easy admissions process, then you may want to look further into their accreditation. Most often an online school that has used an accreditation mill will have very lenient acceptance policies if any at all. These places are most often just looking to make money.
- When looking at the course catalogue and course guidelines check to see how long the program is for. If you find an online school willing to give you a degree after only six or twelve months then they may not be the best choice for you. Also, many of these schools without proper accreditation often throw together a course list without having put together the proper faculty to teach it. So before you choose an online school you should call the school and speak with the teachers to see if they are experienced to be teaching this course.
Wikipedia has a great list of accreditation mills. Before you enroll in an online program, make sure your institute isn’t accredited by one of these!
