I noted some discussions of terrible R/A schools, yet I must have missed the discussions which advise us of what/who/where they are located, and which distance programs we should avoid. I for one would like to know which ones to avoid, so I can advise others (including my own kid). Do the Regionals have a website which says which schools are of low academic quality (before they get warnings, etc) or which schools are in danger of losing their accreditation? Doug. Douglas Eckert PhD- West Virginia University
Doug, this area is real subjective so my thought would be to figure out what is needed for an end result and work backwards. Perhaps in that manner folks with both first hand knowledge and experience in academe can respond. All the accreditors post problem schools and their status. You can go to www.chea.org and search within the accreditors for some answers. My experience with this forum has shown good response to serious questions. Regards,
Thanks for the input. I did as you suggested and was able to find the list of currently accredited schools, but not the problem ones (if it exists). However, it is probably my own lack of knowledge which is preventing me from finding the information which I desire. It could be that the RAs don't want people to know what schools are having problems. I feel guilty in this quest, for if I am interested in the topic, and if I can not locate the information, imagine if you will how difficult it would be for the average person to find the information. I must not be the only one looking for this info. It would be nice if the R/As themselves would make it easier. Doug. Douglas Eckert PhD- West Virginia University
Doug, if you went to the the individual accreditors sites, i.e. SACS, for instance, they will publish the results from any school reviews. For example, one of my alma maters, Auburn, recently was put on probation for the antics of a few of the leadership folks. Doesn't necessarily make it a terrible school but does indicate an area for concern. If you have a particular school or schools (program(s))about which you have questions you can use the search function on the forum first and then ask directly to the members. My personal experience has been, I call the accreditor directly and ask them before attending and then form an opinion after a course as to whether the school is fulfilling my need. USNEWS posts their rankings of schools but I have to agree with most of the members here that the various forms of program accreditation set some minimum standard, i.e. AACSB regardless of the rankings. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/grhome.htm and a government site in case you like statistics: http://www.nces.ed.gov/ I think all schools have good or bad and that much of this view is predicated on an individual program rather than the entire school. I don't believe many folks would commit to calling any RA school terrible but would certainly provide some insight as to the overall quality of a specific program. Lastly, I don't know of any accreditor that provides categorical academic ratings of its members.
I've kept a vigilant watch over this thread waiting for some candidates in the terrible RA category. I have some candidates in the terrible State Approved category to compare to the terrible RA category but, we first need some candidates in the terrible RA category.
Perhaps the inability of the membership herein to list objectively "terrible" regionally-accredited institutions speaks voluminously to the inherent quality of the standards which regional-accreditation ensures. Just a thought. (After all, I have so few worthy of mention.) EDIT: An afterthought... As I think about it, though, it sure would be interesting to see your state-approved list... and a note as to why next to each institution. Please share.
It was mostly a joke for those of us that prowl the "accredited versus state approved versus unaccredited" discussion forum. Lately I've been going on about how misleading/misunderstood the term "State Approved" is. I've been accused of being tireless in my tirade and thought that some might get a chuckle out of my remark. Anyway, my favorite example of a State Approved school in the terrible category is Pacific Western University. It is state approved in what is the favorite state for many of the state approved fans. Only the PWU Psych degree is state approved in California. However it offers degrees in about any field that one might want. It claims that all these other degrees are offered by PWU in Hawaii but it really operates it all out of the same California office. People have reported here that PWU encourages their victims to claim a state approved degree from PWU California and ensures them that anyone that checks on the degree will find that it verifies interchangeably with the state approved California branch or the not state approved Hawaii branch of PWU. An LA TV station (KCBS) sent a couple of reporters to the PWU office with a hidden camera. The PWU representative that they talked to made PWU look like a degree mill. The favorite statement being something along the lines of, "If you use the technique I've just showed you, you'll be able to earn your degree in a matter of a few months. Here at PWU we don't care in the least if you don't learn a thing while earning your PWU degree." http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14436
