How to Check if Online Colleges Are Accredited
If you are planning to attend one of the many online colleges that are available to students on the web, then you should know whether or not your school is accredited. Unfortunately, there are still that are not accredited, and these programs are a waste of your time and money if any future employer wants to see that you attended an accredited school or if you intend to transfer later and your new school cannot use the credits that you accumulated at the non-accredited school.
Finding out about accreditation is as easy as checking the supposed accreditation agency against the accreditation bodies listed with the United States Department of Education. You can also check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there have been any complaints against your school. By checking the accreditation, you can save yourself a lot of time and wasted money.
There are other ways that can help you figure out if you are about to send your money to a diploma mill instead of an actual online college. For example, does your school have a real address, or do they only provide you with a P.O. Box or suite number? If your online school does not have a permanent address, it is possible that the school is not entirely legitimate, and you should be very cautious.
There are other hints that the school to which you are applying may not be totally legitimate. For example, if the college offers you a tuition that is based on the degree earned and not on the units per hour, then you are probably looking at a scam. These sites will not ask you for any kind of confirmation of any previous classes you have taken or units that you have earned, and they will probably base your enrollment on your credit card rather than your academic merits.
A non-accredited online college is not worth the time or money that you spend on it. They will likely promise you a "fast" and "easy" diploma, but they won't provide you with the proper classes that an accredited online college offers. These diploma mills will take your money and print off a fake diploma with assurances that they are indeed accredited. Your fake college university may even provide information that says that they are accredited and list an agency or even multiple agencies that have praised them. Unless the accrediting agency is listed with the U.S. Department of Education, it is not a real agency, and your diploma is no more valid than it would be if you had printed it on your home printer.
Other Resources:
|
Schools / Colleges / Universities:
|
Degrees / Programs:
|
|
Courses / Classes:
|
