How Accreditation Works

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognizes nineteen accreditation agencies in the United States (this includes the major Six Regional Accreditation Agencies. They describe how each accreditation agency works differently, but fundamentally, follow similar principles and practices.

Accreditation is always carried out through a private, nonprofit organization. Some review all kinds of institutions, while others focus on only a certain section (law schools, medicine schools, online schools, etc.) An accreditation agency that only focuses on one kind of school is known as a "programmatic accreditor."

The accreditation agencies all undergo their own scrutiny, similar to the scrutiny they impose on schools. This is done by CHEA, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), or both.

Accreditation agencies look at a school's merit based on:

• Standards. An accreditation agency makes sure the school lives up and goes beyond the standards required of quality education.
  
• Policies. Accreditation agencies must have certain policies and procedures that need to be timely followed, and the school has to jump through these hoops to demonstrate adequate performance. This can include but is not limited to filing paperwork within a certain timeframe, and waiting an extended period of time, typically years, to get through the review process.
  
• Ongoing Evaluations. Accreditation agencies continue to evaluate the school (ex., a review every five years) to make sure the school continues to have high educational standards.
  
  

Accreditation agencies make the information that they gather about schools available to the general public so that prospective and current college students, as well as employers, can remain informed on the integrity of different colleges. While most colleges post their accreditation on their website, a student can visit the accreditation agency in charge of that area (in the case of the Six Regional Accreditation Agencies) and check if their school of choice is listed through the accreditor itself.

Since accreditation agencies are entirely nonprofit, students can rest assured that their information is not biased based upon any kind of monetary gain. Knowing the methods of accreditation, you can now sit back, relax, and rest assured that your accredited school is recognized as a location of quality education.