Is a degree from a school approved by the BPPVE better than a degree from a school with dubious accreditation?
Yes, because the overwhelming majority of those "dubious" schools are just that dubious. They have no state licensing, nothing. At least the BPPVE has implemented some decent regulations. It's by no means accreditation, but it's better than nothing at all.
In some situations, yes. In others, no. Plus, there's less chance that the degree will cause you tremendous embarrassment--but no guarantee.
I guess that I'd define 'dubious accreditation' as accreditation that's an unreliable indicator of academic legitimacy. So claiming it at best tells us nothing, and at worst is a flat out lie. Claiming CA-approval is less misleading and less disingenuous. Unfortunately, CA-approval isn't a reliable indicator of academic legitimacy either. Never was. There are some very iffy schools on the approved list. The BPPVE is pretty effective in keeping out degrees-for-dollars mills, but substandard schools are abundant. That means that if CA-approval is misunderstood, it could be just as misleading as dubious accreditation. I like CA-approval and am one of its defenders. But what it does is provide a floor, a basic standard that's rather easy for new schools to meet. Combined with California's edgy culture, that makes for lots of interesting and unusual do-it-yourself schools. But CA-approval isn't enough, just by itself, to tell us very much about any of these schools' real academic legitimacy. That's particularly true if you want to compare these things to conventional accredited schools, rather than simply taking them on their own terms. (Some CA-approved schools offer unique apecialized programs that can't easily be compared with anything offered elsewhere.)
