Key Takeaways:
- Regional accreditation means an academic institution meets acceptable levels of quality related to coursework, faculty, resources, student services, and more.
- Regional accreditation represents the gold standard in U.S. higher education.
- Regional accreditation increases the chance of your college credits transferring.
Alison Agnew hears, “What does regionally accredited mean?” often.
“It’s one of the questions we get asked about the most,” she states.
Alison oversees student engagement at Portage Learning.
Each day, she and her team speak with people interested in its self-directed, online college courses – helping them to understand whether the credits earned will transfer to the university where they want to finish their degree.
Some people’s patience may be tested by discussing the same topic repeatedly. But Alison welcomes every opportunity – because spending a few minutes explaining regional accreditation can prevent a lifetime of issues.
What Is Regional Accreditation?
Regional accreditation means an academic institution meets acceptable levels of quality related to coursework, faculty, resources, student services, and more.
Most public and private nonprofit colleges and universities hold it.
Seven independent, third-party organizations, split by geographic area and known as regional accrediting agencies, establish the standards institutions must fulfill and conduct the evaluations that determine whether they do. Those include the:
- Higher Learning Commission
- Middle States Commission on Higher Education
- New England Commission of Higher Education
- Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
- WASC Senior College and University Commission
- Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
Is Regional Accreditation Important?
Regional accreditation matters for all students.
Credits and degrees earned from a college or program with it prepare you for your career.
The evaluation indicates you received good instruction, which also provides greater flexibility when transferring schools or pursuing further education.
Regionally accredited institutions maintain agreements with one another that increase your chance of being allowed to bring credits obtained at one college and apply them toward a degree at another.
Regional vs. National Accreditation vs. ACE Recommendation: What’s the Difference?
Regional accreditation represents the gold standard in U.S. higher education.
You may come across programs that tout their courses as carrying the following evaluations:
- National accreditation: Applies to trade schools and vocational colleges, usually
- ACE recommendation: Refers to nontraditional learning experiences deemed worthy of college credit by a membership organization known as the American Council on Education (ACE), such as:
- Online courses
- Workforce training
- Certifications
- Exams
- Military service
Universities tend to reject courses with these evaluations because the providers don’t fulfill the same criteria for academic oversight and external accountability as regionally accredited institutions. Therefore, the colleges don’t view them as being rigorous enough to accept.
How Do Institutions Become Regionally Accredited?
The process to become a regionally accredited institution typically involves six stages.
- Establish eligibility: Colleges must meet an agency’s most basic requirements. For example, they may need to award degrees.
- Conduct a self-study: Accredited universities and programs – or those eligible for it – prepare a written report that evaluates their performance based on the agency’s standards and details how they will improve in the future.
- Coordinate an on-site team visit: A review team, which may include members of the public or representatives from other universities, uses the self-study document to assess a college during a visit to the campus.
- Write a report: The visiting team prepares an accreditation report, which judges the institution and then submits it to the agency for review.
- Issue a decision: Agencies collect all of the information provided and decide whether to grant, renew, or revoke an institution’s accreditation.
- Monitor: Accreditors review a university’s status every three to 10 years depending on the agency’s policy. They sometimes require annual reports to track a college’s progress between comprehensive evaluations.
The criteria depend on the agency overseeing the process. In general, they assess an institution or program on its:
- Educational excellence: Do students learn the necessary skills and knowledge required for their degree? Do the professors and faculty teaching those courses hold the proper credentials?
- Institutional effectiveness: Does the college operate transparently and in a way that aligns with its mission and goals? Does the university maintain financial stability?
- Ethics and integrity: Does the institution provide a safe environment for all learners that follow its policies?
- Support network: Will students receive coherent and effective services such as tutoring or financial aid that enhance their education? Does the college analyze itself and use data to improve key metrics, including retention and degree completion rates?
Benefits of Regional Accreditation
In addition to increasing the chances of your earned credits transferring to your new university, other pros of choosing a regionally accredited institution include:
- Financial aid: You need to attend an accredited college to be eligible for scholarships, grants, and loans.
- Certifications and exams: State licensing boards require a degree from a regionally accredited program to sit for a profession’s entrance exam, such as the NCLEX, or be granted certification.
- Employability: Even if your career doesn’t require a test to begin practicing, employers rely on accreditation to ensure your education prepares you for the workforce.
Drawbacks of Regional Accreditation
Preparing to become a regionally accredited institution – or to renew the evaluation – requires resources.
Between the self-study and on-site visit, universities and programs dedicate large amounts of time and money to the process.
It, of course, pays off for them once learners recognize the value of regional accreditation and choose to enroll.
From a student perspective, the evaluation comes with virtually no cons.
If you want to earn credit that counts toward your degree, then taking courses from a regionally accredited institution would be the smart move over other options such as ACE recommendation or national accreditation.
How to Check if a School Is Regionally Accredited
To check a college or program’s regional accreditation status, you can search the Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education.
It tells you what agency accredited the institution and whether any of its programs carry accreditation as well.
Alison also recommends learners contact a college’s registrar’s office, which can share its evaluation and whether courses will be accepted.
“They know the most up-to-date information and are such a good place to start,” she explains. “Students will ask me, ‘Does ABC school accept Portage Learning credits?’ and I’ll be able to see that we’ve sent them a lot of transcripts, but what I can’t see is if it’s program specific, course specific, or if they’ve changed their policy, so I’ll always push people to the registrar.”
Is Regional Accreditation Worth It?
Advancing your education comes with a lot of questions.
How much will tuition cost?
When should I declare a major?
Do students stay on campus or go home on the weekends?
With so much to consider, regional accreditation may not sit at the top of your list.
But overlooking it could create challenges long after enrollment.
Choosing a college means considering where that education can take you, too. So spending a few minutes researching the topic is well worth your time.
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