I personally got suckered into a for profit university in 1991 with then Fort Lauderdale College. They gave me the spiel that they were in the process of becoming a university, regionally accredited, and their athletic teams becoming part of the NCAA. Well, only 1 out of the three was realized. In 1994, they became Florida Metropolitan University. In 2007, they changed their name to Everest University.

I am actually starting now researching schools for doctoral programs in psychology. Argosy University and Walden University are two of the leading candidates. Argosy University is accredited with the American Psychological Association. While with Walden University, a few of my past professors have received their Ph.D’s from their.

Schools that I will ignore like the plague are University of Phoenix. While investigating schools I stopped by a campus and the admissions rep was so eager to get me to enroll right then and there. She even persisted by calling and emailing me to see if I made a decision. A normal, traditional university does not put on this type of high pressure sales technique on their prospective students. That actually turned me off, and got them taken out of consideration.

Take the time to investigate your school because it is an “investment” in your future.

• An Overview of Accreditation
• Is Your Distance Learning School Accredited?
• Research on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children

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The students are now well exposed to the vivid and intricate world of academic opportunities at the web: talking about numerous online degrees and diplomas from a host of different educational institutes. Most of them advertise for a somewhat easier way to success, going through a less intensive course requirement with home based classroom sessions, involving minimal credit participation. This is however, too good to be true and most candidates who seek online educational training as a career backup usually fall prey to such enticing revelations on the Internet.

The students should therefore steer clear of such unaccredited colleges and institutes that offer online education at unbelievably low credit involvements. Ideally speaking, a regular and accredited institution offers online course requirements at par with regular on site degree programs in conventional colleges and universities. The Accreditation Organization works in the public sector with approval from the Ministry of Education in the United States of America and conducts extensive surveys to review the overall educational and degree standards offered by these online academic institutes.

Without a proper accreditation, which is a standardized certification of the undertaken academic training, it is extremely hard for a candidate to utilize an online awarded degree in the regular job market. An unaccredited degree doesn’t provide any basis for comparison for the recruiters to assess the position of the applicant with respect to the other competitors. Hence, accreditation organizations play a very crucial role in guiding the mass of online academic aspirants for picking out a proper institute to get the desired academic training. Though these accreditation organizations in the USA are mostly non governmental, they enjoy the mentorship of the USDE (United States Department of Education) and CHEA (Council for Higher Education Accreditation) and require referrals from these governing bodies before being able to review the academic standards of online educational institutes.

The recently amended Higher Education Opportunity Act not only signifies, but also revises certain key aspects of the relationship between the Federal Government and the Accreditation Organizations in USA. The law implicates changes in the governmental requirements for accepting newer areas under accreditation in the higher educational sector. The law also proposed some additional requirements to be implemented for those areas that are directly under the jurisdiction of federal scrutiny. The final outcome of these new impositions will soon be available to the general public as per the specifications of the act.

With increasing demand for academic and professional training to keep pace with the career demands in the fast moving world, a large number of diploma and accreditation mills are creating dangerous and enticing scams on the Internet. There are indeed quite a number of genuine accredited colleges, like, American College, Baker College, California State University – Dominguez Hills, Charles Sturt University, Capella University, Empire State College and Golden Gate University, offering quality online education and training to the students in USA. These award degrees that are well accepted by the organizations in both public and private sectors, genuinely helping the students to upgrade their careers.

About the Author

Divya Agg attended graduate program in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma, Norman and had served there as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for freshman and sophomore students. While taking graduate courses in Chemical Education he had been an avid researcher dealing with the comparative benefits of online and in-class instructional modes.

• Choosing The Right College
• Is Your Distance Learning School Accredited?

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Distance Learing Requires Doing a Thorough Research

For whatever reason, when deciding to continue education through distance learning or online colleges, the most important requirement to check out first is if the establishment is “accredited” by accrediting institutions that are recognized by the federal government through the Department of Education. Otherwise, students could end up paying their money for a qualification paper that will not get recognition by almost all traditional establishments.

The downside of distance learning or an online degree is, even if the learning establishment that is giving the qualification has the required accrediting, it is not yet widely accepted by employers. It could also be difficult when trying to transfer the credits obtained to other programs run by those that do not recognize the particular learning establishment. This attests to the fact that it is a mutual recognition among the educators and their partners, so that the quality of the education given will be at a higher level, and there are no sets of rules to follow.

The accreditation is a process where other learning institutions, through a peer group setup, ascertain that a given learning establishment has what it take in terms of the education quality it is availing. The essential issues they would be looking at could be the school’s mission, goals, objectives, available resources and how they are utilized, enrollment requirements, and the overall quality of the education.

It is important to pay attention to the accrediting of a learning establishment because the acceptance level is very much dependant on the assessment done and the kind of recognition given by these groups. Not finding the name of the establishment a student is planning to attend in the listing of National and Regional Accredited Agencies could mean whatever qualification a learning establishment is availing to the public will not be recognized by a wide margin, which will include those who are in charge of hiring or admitting student to the many higher learning institutions, because the peer group that is doing the accreditation is made up of this group. It has nothing to do with the government and what the government does is to assesses the recommendations to see if there are irregularities and whether the process meets certain criteria.

There is also an agency known as Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) that carries its own list of those that had been validated as accredited establishments, and not finding the establishment a student wants to join in these two lists could mean a red flag. However, still there could be establishments that cannot make it into the list, yet they could avail quality education or they are not necessarily illegal, but the downside is there will always be a recognition problem.

There are certain establishments that are offering professional training that might not need the accreditation, because the profession itself might be a hands-on training where there is a high demand for it in the job market, or the establishments are recognized by a given sector as professional organizations. For example, most short-term computer training courses fall into this category. 

As a result, the two essential concerns students should pay heed to are employers and other higher learning establishments where the students might be planning to further their studies. Because their not recognizing the certificate might reduce the value of the education that is attained by incurring a lot of expense and time investment. If students are doing it just to satisfy their learning drive, there will not be a problem.

It is also possible that there is a better chance that the certification would get recognition by a current employer for advancement, raise, or the like. But the bottom line of the accreditation is a certification obtained from any learning establishments will be as good as the traditional learning establishments if it is from an accredited school, and that definitely will go a long way and would be worth the investment. In addition, more and more employers have started recognizing the distance learning education.

The expense more or less would be the same with students who attend regular classes, because there is always room and board, whoever is covering it. The cost involving learning material will also be the same except that students can opt to buy used ones. One expense that is possible to eliminate could be the cost of commuting to a school, but again most distance learners are working people who have to commute to work. Cosnsequently, the only advantage it avails for the most part is doing it at one’s own convenience and pace.

If there is one thing lacking in the process, it is live interaction that usually takes place in a classroom environment. However, there are teleconferences, videos, email, message board, and chat rooms that will help the students to interact with other students and the faculty members, including the instructors. That might be the only area that will be different. Other than that it is possible to listen to a recorded lecture that could take the normal class room hours at the comfort of one’s home or if the workplace environment allows it.

There are what are known as diploma mills, establishments that are not striving to avail a high standard of education that students have to watch out for no matter what kind of incentives they are offering. Some of them could also be unnecessarily expensive and comparing price and doing a thorough research about the stand of the learning establishments is very important.

As it is, distance learning is not yet fully accepted even if the acceptance rate is on the rise and incurring a huge expense will not make things any better. Going for those schools that have the accreditation and offer an affordable tuition fee is a wise decision for the long haul. Because it is always possible to borrow money for the distance learning, which means paying back the money could be difficult, and might take a long time if some kind of planning is not in place in advance. 

Hence, especially adults who were procrastinating going back to school because of work, family, lack of time, and drive will find the latest development of distance education very attractive and accommodating, as not only the quality of the education has been augmented, but the number of the establishments is on the rise. The fee and the amount of time it takes to complete a diploma or a degree is also shrinking making it the best time ever to look toward the direction of furthering one’s education level, not to miss out from the advantages that could be had, as the demand for higher education in the workplace is not letting up.

About The Author

Bill Johnson is a freelance writer and Internet entreprenuer where he promotes and sells ebooks and e-serials.

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• Choosing The Right College
• An Overview of Accreditation
• New Strategy For A New Year, Semester
• Definition of Distance Learning
• Learning Through Computer Interaction

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