How to know if a school is regionally accredited?

I called the TX Psychology Licensing Board to ensure that I will be able to apply for licensure. I was told that as long as the school is regionally accredited, the board will accept it.

What makes a school regionally accredited and how do I check to ensure that they are?

Two of the schools I am looking at for Ph.D in Psychology, are NorthCentral University (AZ) and Ryokan College. At one point, Fielding sounded right for me until I clarified some issues with the rep. I was informed that student meet monthly in their designated clusters. I am still researching and I am open for suggestions.

Thanks,
Beep

 

Regional Accreditors

by Bill Gossett
This is a list of every regional accreditor of institutions of higher education in the United States of America. If a school cannot claim to be accredited by one of these agencies, then a prospective student should be very careful about his or her decision to enroll in that school's program.
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New England Association of Schools and Colleges
209 Burlington Road
Bedford, MA 01730-1433
Phone: 781-271-0022
http://www.neasc.org
Email: [email protected]
Covers: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
1866 Southern Lane
Decatur, GA 30033
Phone: 404-679-4500
http://www.sacs.org
Email (Commission on Colleges): [email protected]
Covers: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
624 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-662-5606
http://www.msache.org
Email: [email protected]
Covers: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Panama.

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
30 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 2400
Chicago, IL 60602-2504
Phone: 312-263-0456 800-621-7440
http://www.ncacihe.org
Online contact form: http://www.ncacihe.org/contact.htm
Covers: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges
985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100
Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: 510-748-9001
http://www.wascsenior.org
Email: [email protected]
Covers: California, Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Pacific Basin, and East Asia.

Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
11130 NE 33rd Place, Suite 120
Bellevue, WA 98004
Phone: 425-827-2005 http://www.cocnasc.org
Email: [email protected]
Covers: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

http://www.degreeinfo.com/regional.html

The website for each school you're interested in should somewhere show its accreditation, if any.

 

The government has a web site that allows you to check the accreditation of schools. It's nice because you don't need to go to each RA agency to check accreditation.

http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.asp

 

You can also go to www.chea.org. They have a search engine where you can type in the name of the school and it will show you the accreditor.

 

Note though that all schools on this list are not regionally accredited. Some of these schools are professionally accredited while others are nationally accredited.

That list shows the schools recognized by DoE but that does not mean that every state licensing board will accept each of those schools. It's simply a starting place.

 

Good point...Not all schools on the site are RA.

The web site acts like a search engine and allows you to choose the type of accreditation that you want to search -- to include search all RA agencies.

 

Mill Degree Schools claim anything as I was almost suckered by two that claim they are regionally accredited and pending APA approval. Thanks to this site and your feedback!

The state boards are not real helpful in answering my questions about whether they will allow me to take the doctorate level psychology licensure if I attended a certain school (such as Ryokan or NorthCentral)

I guess this is why I am so cautious and hesitant to start a program.

 

There are six regional accreditors. They divide the country up into regions, and each regional accreditor takes responsibility for all the schools that seek to acquire or retain regional accreditation in the states that make up its region. For example, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) handles California, Hawaii and some Pacific islands like Guam.

The regional accreditors are associations whose membership consists of the accredited schools. Schools become accredited by applying, supplying documentation and being visited by an inspection team, then serving a period of candidacy which usually includes more visits, making prescribed changes and so on. Finally the association makes a decision on full accreditation. Accredited schools undergo periodic reevaluations, which may be scheduled only a few years off if the school is making significant changes or having problems, and as much as ten years out if it's all just routine. But everybody, even Cal Tech, hosts accreditor inspections sometimes.

How can you tell if a school is regionally accredited? The most reliable way is to consult the relevant regional accreditor. I also like the excellent database at the CHEA website, which gathers all the countless schools and accreditors together and tells you which schools are accredited by which accreditors. I'd be careful using the Department of Education's new listing, which isn't reliable yet. It includes a few blatant degree mills and it's still very much a work in progress.

Some states require that the schools that grant the degrees not only be regionally accredited, but that they have specialized accreditation from the American Psychological Association too.

NorthCentral of AZ is regionally accredited. If regional accreditation is the Texas board's only issue, then NCU should work.

Ryokan is NOT regionally accredited. It is CA-approved and qualifies its graduates for California licenses. In fact, Ryokan graduates have a pretty good pass-rate on the CA psychology board exams. It's one of the CA-approved schools that I kind of like. But that doesn't help you in Texas.

Fielding's the only one of these three that's accredited by the APA. Personally, I think that it's probably the strongest of the three academically, but this isn't my field, so what do I know?

 

Thank you so much. That clarified a great deal of things for me. Now, I just have to talk to someone at the licensing board that can give me definite answers.

Thanks again.

 

Beep, did you ever call the board back? I have been looking at NCU as well as CalSouthern. CalSouthern is MUCH cheaper (and shorter) and just received national accreditation. Unfortunately national accreditation is still not as idea as regional accreditation. I'm assuming your call went well since NCU is accredited by one of the regional bodies. As far as I know (just fyi) NCU only has ONE PhD that is clinical... it's the one in Marriage and Family Therapy... that other long list of PhDs is not meant to prepare one for clinical psychology. I found this out when I talked to them the other day. Let us all know if you made that second call! - Ryan

 

*ideal* is what I meant to type... oops

 

Who dug up this seven year old thread?

 

Hi ryan - Thanks for using the search function. I'm guessing that our friend jeepbeep has long since departed degreeinfo. Let us know if we can help you in your quest.

 

Again Ted, holy cow... sorry to offend. Was trying to do the right thing.

 

Steve and Kiz,

Thanks much. It's hard to find posts that are so specific in nature. Was just hoping that Beep still kept a distant eye on the forum. Oh well! I reposted my question in a new forum.