How to Evaluate a School Offering Distance Learning Programs

Introduction
Nearly every school which offers courses and degree programs through distance learning has a Web site. Some are slick, some are shabby. How can you get past the appearance to find out whether the school is worth your time and money?

When you find a school online, start your evaluation with these factors:
* Accreditation
* Administration and faculty
* Student service

Accreditation
The U.S. system of accreditation is unique, as it is a decentralized educational system (I use the term "system" loosely). Often confusing and inconsistent, it is still an important factor when considering U.S. schools. If you are considering a non-U.S. school, look for the equivalent of accreditation, such as a Royal Charter for schools in the United Kingdom.
How can you find out whether a school is accredited? Look around the Web site first. Most schools are adding prominent links to an accreditation statement; some put this information on their home page. If you can't find accreditation information at first glance, see if there is a site map or search function. You can also search the database at chea.org to see if the school is on it; CHEA is a quasi-government agency that keeps track of all Department of Education-recognized accreditors and their accredited schools. Also ask about the school in the DegreeInfo.com Distance Learning Discussions.

When you do find an accreditation statement, check it out. Is the accrediting association recognized by the Department of Education? If not, you can probably scratch the school from your list. Several unrecognized associations have been set up simply so that schools can trumpet "fully accredited!"

Example: In 1998, Barrington University began to claim accreditation by the International Association of Universities and Schools (this statement was removed from its Web site after September 2001). IAUS was incorporated in Florida by Angel Fernandez and Robert K. Bettinger - president of Barrington.

Example: The World Association of Universities and Colleges accredits several schools in the U.S. and abroad. President and founder Maxine Asher is also president and founder of American World University. The "accreditor" is operated from a secretarial service.

Sometimes as you look for information about accreditation, you'll find information about licensure and professional memberships. State licensure by itself is meaningless. Some schools have lax laws; some have strict laws that are rarely enforced. Nearly all investigation of schools is complaint-driven; it's not uncommon for a substandard school or even an outright diploma mill to escape the notice of state authorities.

As for professional memberships, merely paying a membership fee does not make a school legitimate. Of course a school that's interested in distance learning would join the U.S. Distance Learning Association. Faculty and administrators might also join USDLA or other groups, such as the American Association for Collegiate Independent Study, as individuals. That doesn't mean that the USDLA has somehow approved the school. Any individual or school can join USDLA; any individual can join AACIS. Anyone can subscribe to the National Geographic, but those who put "Member, National Geographic Society" on their resumes would look foolish.
Administration and Faculty.

Also, depending on your professional goals and needs, and possible future goals, consider that there is a difference between accreditors. If you're after a trade or technical degree, such as medical assisting or welding or locksmithing, then any school accredited by a Department of Education recognized accreditor will probably do just fine. If you are considering a professional degree such as law or psychology, you will most likely want a school that is regionally accredited; the six regional accreditors are still the "gold standard" for US accreditation. There are other accreditors such as DETC and ACICS that are legitimate and recognized, but degrees accredited by these schools have historically not been as widely accepted as regionally accredited degrees. They may be fine for many purposes, but you would do well to read the other articles here at DegreeInfo and familarize yourself with the pros and cons before making your decision.

The school and its reputation
After you've found that the school meets your accreditation requirements, spend some time browsing the Web site. Can you find any administration or faculty information on the Web site? Some schools, such as Touro University, provide a list of faculty names and qualifications. Others provide faculty information differently. For example, the Penn State World Campus Web site includes a Community Profile that highlights a World Campus student, staff member, or faculty member. University of Iowa Guided Independent Study provides a "Course-at-a-Glance" page for each course that identifies the coursewriter and the instructor.

When you find faculty and administration names, check them out. Do they have a variety of advanced degrees from a variety of schools? If four out of five hold an advanced degree from the school itself, that's a bad sign. Five out of five? Forget it.

If you're going to seek an academic or professional (as opposed to technical) degree, you may also want to Google the names of some of the professors in your chosen department. See what they've written, what research they've done, or what articles they've published. In addition to giving you a better idea of where their research interests lie, it will also give you some insight into the department and its philosophy. If you can't find any indication that the professors are involved in research or publishing in their field, that's probably not a great sign that the school or department is keeping up to date in their areas of study.

Also consider the number of faculty. A school that claims to have 5000 students and has just five or six faculty - well, that's probably not a good choice. If the school does seem good otherwise, you might email them to ask about the student-to-faculty ratio. Perhaps they have more faculty than they list on the Web site.

What if you can't find any faculty or administration names anywhere on the Web site? Not a good sign at all, particularly if the site alludes to being founded by illustrious educators or having a large group of eminently qualified faculty … but chooses to not name a single one.

Student Service

Does the school offer several ways for students to get information? Most legitimate schools provide mail and email addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and often online forms. If the school provides only one means of contact - only an online form or only a telephone number or email address - ask why.

Does the school use an email address that corresponds to its Web site address? That is, do you email Info@BigU.edu - or do you email BigU@hotmail.com? Why would a school use a free email address? (This isn't a vital factor; it's relatively easy to set up email accounts that correspond to the domain name used by the Web site. However, I've noticed that several less-than-wonderful schools use free email services such as Europe.com.)

Contact the school for information. What sort of response do you get? During normal business hours, is your telephone call answered by an individual who identifies the school, or by a machine or answering service? Does the school respond to your email promptly with useful information or with a standard form? (Getting an "autoresponder" email that says your email has been received is ok, as long as it is followed up with an individual email message.)

In general, read the school's information with a critical eye. Does it make reasonable claims? Do the claims matter?

In a future article, we will discuss factors such as credit for life experience and finding the distance learning methods that best fit your needs.

- Kristin Evenson Hirst