Anyone who turns on the television in the middle of the day will see several commercials showing online colleges trying to recruit students, many offering outlandish claims of quickly granting degrees or program certificates. With so many colleges to choose from, many times students forget to make sure the online program they are pondering is accredited.

Accreditation is the process of ensuring that the education provided by a college or university meets acceptable levels of quality. A college becomes accredited when an accrediting agency analyzes the school to make sure the evaluation criteria have been met. Accrediting agencies are made up of private educational associations, and they often use peer evaluations to assess the status of the criteria. An online college can request an agency's evaluation at anytime. Once that college has met or excelled the criteria standards, it will be accredited. It is important to note that the U.S. Department of Education does not accredit institutions. However, the Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies.

Accreditation is important because it verifies that the online college meets established standards, helps students to identify acceptable colleges, helps colleges determine transfer credits, establishes criteria for professional certification and licensure, and provides one of several considerations used as a basis for determining eligibility for federal assistance.

For online learners, college accreditation assures that your online education has the same educational outcome, the same student services - such as admission and counseling - and the same access to government student assistance programs that students in a traditional classroom environment would have. Students attending online schools and programs that are not accredited are ineligible for federal grants or loans.

Transferring credits from online colleges - something that is very important for military members and their dependents - is much easier with an accredited school. In fact, if a college is not accredited it is often nearly impossible to get another college to recognize any of the earned credits. Most employers will not honor tuition assistance reimbursement of an unaccredited school.

Make sure the school you are considering is legitimately accredited. It is easy to find out if a program is accredited. There are two organizations that do all of the legwork for you: the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Both organizations have compiled a complete list of approved accreditation organizations.   

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