The Basics of Higher Education and Choosing Online Programs

[sanantone]

I was asked by a website that focuses on black women's improvement to write about my experience with attending school online so that readers can be informed about this option. I took it upon myself to write a very thorough guideline so that people could get past the misconceptions and choose legitimate schools. It's been over a month since I submitted what I wrote and my article has yet to be published, so I will post it here. I was informed 3 weeks ago that it would be published soon, but I don't know what they consider to be soon. I wrote 12 pages, so I don't want it to go to a waste.

When it comes to post-secondary education, there is a bit of a learning curve. I will start with a few of the basics you should know. The most important thing to understand is accreditation. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes accrediting organizations directly and indirectly through CHEA (Council for Higher Education Accreditation). You can find out which organizations are recognized by these two at this link.
http://www.chea.org/pdf/CHEA_USDE_AllAccred.pdf
You can check to see if a school is accredited at this link.
U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs

There are two types of accreditation in the U.S.: institutional and programmatic. Programmatic accreditation is usually optional. It’s something extra to show that a specific program meets higher quality standards. AACSB for business and accounting is an example of this. While it’s not required for any license in most states, and most employers don’t ask about it, it’s an accreditation held by the best business schools. If you want to get a graduate degree and work in academia in the future, you would be limiting your employment options by getting a graduate degree at a school without this accreditation. AACSB-accredited schools will not hire professors who do not have an AACSB-accredited degree.

In other cases, programmatic accreditation is important for licensure or employment. The federal government will not hire psychologists without an APA-accredited degree. ABET is usually required or makes it a lot easier to become licensed as a professional engineer. CSWE accreditation is usually required for social work.


The other type of accreditation is institutional. This is accreditation for the whole college. It says that the college is legitimate and meets overall minimum standards. It also qualifies a school for Title IV Funding (federal financial aid in the form of grants and loans). “Diploma mill” is often a misused term. It only applies to unaccredited schools that basically let you buy your degree or receive it after completing little work. There are some legitimate schools that are unaccredited. It can take 5-10 years to gain accreditation. A state will give approval for an unaccredited school to operate as long as it meets the state’s standards. Some states have a condition that requires that the school become accredited within a certain number of years. I do not recommend anyone attend an unaccredited school because it might not be recognized by employers or licensing agencies, it is illegal to use an unaccredited degree in some states, and it will be nearly impossible to transfer credits or to get into an accredited graduate school.


Within institutional accreditation, there are national accrediting organizations and regional accrediting organizations. This might sound backward, but credits and degrees from regionally accredited schools are more accepted nationwide than those from nationally accredited schools. Regional accreditation is seen as the gold standard in academia. The most well-known national accreditors are DETC, ACICS, and ACCSC. While these are recognized by CHEA and USDOE, I do not recommend attending NA (nationally accredited schools). The credits from these schools are more difficult to transfer than those from RA (regionally accredited) schools. Degrees from NA schools can also limit your options among graduate schools. Some state and local agencies do not recognize NA degrees for licensing and/or employment.


There are six regional accreditors: Middle States Commission on Higher Education, New England Association of Schools and Colleges, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (junior level), and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (senior level). You want to make sure that the school you attend is accredited by one of these organizations.


Financial aid: always fill out the FAFSA at this website.
Home - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid
This is needed to receive federal grants and loans. States also use this to award state grants and loans. If you don’t qualify for federal financial aid for whatever reason (immigration status, past crimes, defaults, etc.), your state might have its own financial aid form to fill out. Don’t automatically assume that you make too much money for financial aid. Most people qualify for some form of aid.
Tax status: there are private non-profit, public, and private for-profit colleges. Public colleges are run by a government agency at the local, state/territory, or federal level. These are usually the cheapest for in-state and/or in-district students. Community and junior colleges usually have different rates for in-district students (those who live within a county, city, or metropolitan area that pays taxes to the school), in-state students, and out-of –state students. State colleges and universities usually have in-state and out-of-state rates. Some public colleges will charge in-state or reduced tuition rates to out-of-state students attending online.