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College accreditation is a formal recognition, or guarantee, that an entire school or college-or just one of its programs meets certain standards and provides quality education equivalent to the nation's top accredited online colleges and universities. If you are considering studying abroad, outside Nigeria or through an online distance learning, you will have to take note of whether the University or College of your choice is accredited.Why is College accreditation Important?College accreditation gives the assurance that, as a distance learneror regular international student, you will be able to attain the sameeducational outcomes as you would in a traditional classroom-basedprogram.College accreditation entitles you to the same rights to admissions,orientation, registration, counseling, tutoring, placement, financialaid, and other student services that are available to all othercollege students, regardless of the delivery method of your classes-online or offline.Without accreditation by a nationally recognized accreditingorganization, a school is not eligible to participate in governmentstudent assistance programs. This means that, as a student, you wouldnot be eligible for federal grant or loan money.Most employers and organizations who offer tuition assistance will notreimburse your tuition if you attend a school that is not accredited.If you intend to transfer credits from one school to another, you willonly be able to do so if you attended an accredited college oruniversity.You also should note that not all college/university accreditationassociations are legitimate. Some colleges and diploma mills createtheir own accrediting authority and then grant themselves"accreditation!". Hence you should be extremely careful and bewatchful for such institutions so that you do not waste your time andmoney.How then Will one Know if a College is Accredited by a Legitimate Authority?For schools in US, There are two large organizations that recognizeaccrediting agencies, giving them validation:U.S Department of Educationhttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/index.htmlCouncil for higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)http://www.chea.orgIn Canada, college accreditation is provided by the Association ofUniversities and Colleges of Canada. See http://www/cmec.ca/for moreinformation on Canadian accreditation.There are six regional accrediting agencies that are recognized by theU.S. Department of Education and CHEA. These agencies accredit entireinstitutions. All are equally authoritative and recognize each other.This means credits or degrees earned from a school accredited by oneagency will be recognized by a school accredited by another agency.The following accrediting agencies are recognized as legitimateaccrediting bodies by the US Department of Education and CHEA. Eachlist has a searcheable database of the schools that it accredits onits website.Middle States Commission on Higher Education - This organizationaccredits schools in Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, NewJersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.Visit http://www.msache.org for more information.New England Association of Schools and Colleges - This organizationaccredits schools in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,Rhode Island, Vermont and American/international schools in more than65 nations worldwide. Visit http://www.neasc.org for more information.North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and SchoolImprovement (NCA CASI) -This organization accredits schools inArizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota,Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and Washington. Visit http://www.ncacasi.org formore information.Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) - Thisorganization accredits schools and colleges in Alaska, Idaho, Montana,Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Visit http://www.nwccu.org/formore information.Southern Association of Colleges and Schools- This organizationaccredits schools in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, andVirginia. Visit http://www.sacscoc.org for more information.Western Association of Schools and Colleges - This organizationaccredits schools in California, Hawaii, and Guam. Visithttp://www.wascweb.orgfor more information.There are some other college accreditation organizations such as theDistance Education and Training Council (DETC), which is very popularwith distance learning programs.For a full list of the accrediting agencies that the U.S Department ofEducation and CHEA recognize, visithttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/index.html and/orhttp://www.chea.org/if you are considering taking courses-either online or offline-andyou're not sure whether the school you are considering is legitimatelyaccredited, or whether it is a diploma mill or degree mill, it will bewise that you look it up first. After all, it is your education, time,and money, and no one is authorized to take advantage of you. If youare in doubt, look it up!If you know other accreditation agencies for universities and collegesin Uk, Netherland, Belgium, Sweden etc, please share with us oncomment below. Someone needs to know.

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