San Francisco Institute of Architecture?

Does anyone know anything about this school?
I received an email offering a discount on their DL Green MBA ($1,900 total tuition) but can't find anything about accreditation on their site and I'm not sure how to look it up elsewhere.

Thanks.

 

I do not believe that a degee from this organization would qualify someone to become a licensed architect therefore it's value is severely limited. Also, there are so many accredited MBA degrees around (even some with a sustainability focus) I don't know why anyone would bother with an unaccredited MBA from this organization.

SFIA

San Francisco Institute of Architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BTW, it does, in fact, read like an ad and I'd be surprised to discover that it wasn't written by Stitt himself.

 

I couldn't either. This is a shame, because it's a completely valid concern.

SFIA is, to my knowledge, completely unaccredited. As far as I know, it is not nationally accredited by NA agencies like DETC or ACICS, it is not regionally accredited by WASC, and it is not professionally accredited by NAAB. It doesn't even appear to have current approval from the California BPPE.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the school is academically bogus. It has been around for a while, and has some respectable folks associated with it. You might very well learn something from their programs.

However, the total absence of accreditation raises questions about the broader acceptability of SFIA degrees and credits. If you want to study at SFIA for personal interest, then this may not be an issue.

Unfortunately, it could be a significant problem if you want your SFIA degrees or credits to be accepted by other schools, or employers, or state licensing boards. It is quite possible (perhaps probable) that SFIA degrees or credits would be flatly rejected in such cases. In some states, it is actually illegal to claim a degree from an unaccredited school like SFIA.

 

Thanks Kizmet.
I had a feeling it was unaccredited but couldn't figure out where to look.
I was actually looking into this for two reasons (and only because THEY contacted ME) - price and admissions.
The Green MBA can be had for $1,900 or the MSc - Project Management for $1,400, and admission to the graduate program doesn't require an undergrad if you have sufficient working experience. I'm pursuing my undergrad right now so I'm not looking to get around that, just antsy to move forward.

As I suspected, if it looks too good to be true....

 

CalDog,
Thanks. I wasn't aware of a legal restriction against claiming unaccredited degrees.
Where would I find which states have laws against it? CA or AZ for instance?

 

Here's the one that gets the most discussion:

Office of Degree Authorization - Diploma Mills

 

There is no easy way to find out. Every state has different laws, which are subject to different levels of enforcement, and which are subject to change from year to year. Even within a given state, there may be different standards for different types of degrees; for example, religious degrees are often exempt from regulation.

There is no national database or center that tracks current degree use laws nationwide. So it's left to you to do your own research, on a case-by-case basis.

The State of Oregon is known for relatively tough degree use laws and enforcement. Their website (which may or may not be up to date) states:

Oregon law allows a degree from an unaccredited school to be used if the unaccredited school operates legally under the laws of its state, and if the following legal disclaimer is added:

 

Here's a response I got back from them regarding accreditation. Is this just typical obfuscation, or could this be credible?

Thank you for writing.

Our distance programs are not yet accredited. Accreditation is in
process and will likely be completed within the first half of next year.
Once received, it will apply to work completed up to 3 years prior to
the date of accreditation.

The primary accreditation agency does not allow candidates to use
their name. But they are the oldest distance learning accrediting
agency in the country and quite reputable (since 1926). The other
agency is the Council on Green Building Education and they're just in
the process of incorporation. Since ours is the oldest and highest
rated of all such programs, we have no question of receiving their
certification.

Warm regards,

Rebekah Reinagel
Academic Administrator
San Francisco Institute of Architecture

 

The implication is that SFIA is applying for accreditation through DETC. This follows given that DETC was founded in 1926, and presumbly is the oldest distance learning accreditation agency in the US. And it is true that DETC does discourage schools from advertising that they have applied for accreditation. Furthermore, it does seem possible that SFIA would be a reasonable fit for DETC.

On the other hand, DETC posts the names of applicant schools once they have completed an initial "Readiness Evaluation". SFIA is not yet on that list. So if SFIA has applied to DETC, it apparently hasn't gotten very far in the process yet. Of course, there is no assurance that a school will be accredited after it appears on the applicant list.

DETC accreditation represents "national accreditation". While legitimate, national accreditation generally does not have as much prestige or acceptance as "regional accreditation". Furthermore, it has far less value than the "professional accreditation" from NAAB that is normally held by architecture schools.

The "Council on Green Building Education" apparently does not exist. There are no references to it on Google, except for a few from SFIA. Even if this agency did exist, its accreditation would not necessarily have any value.

Bottom line: I would not recommend SFIA if you are looking for an accredited degree. SFIA implies that it is pursuing DETC accreditation, but if this is true, then it hasn't gotten very far in the process, given that DETC does not list SFIA as an applicant school. The SFIA programs may be OK if you are pursuing them for personal reasons, and do not expect them to be accepted in other academic or professional situations.

 

Just for kicks, I looked up old SFIA web pages at archive.org.

A page that was archived on August 26, 2007 says the folllowing:

At the bottom of the page, it says "Last revised January, 2007". So more than three years ago. Nothing seems to have changed today.

Again, this doesn't necessarily mean that SFIA is academically bogus. But it does mean that SFIA may not be the right choice, if you want an accredited degree.

 

Also, some forms of licensure require regionally accredited degrees. I don't know if that's true in the field of architecture.

 

Typically a licensed architect needs a B.Arch. or M.Arch. degree with professional accreditation from NAAB. In practice, most NAAB degrees are regionally accredited, but this is not always the case. For example, the NewSchool of Architecture + Design (in San Diego) offers NAAB-accredited professional degrees, but it is not RA; it holds national accreditation from ACICS instead.

In any case, the architectural licensing issue is not really relevant to the Original Poster. The OP is interested in SFIA's "Green MBA" program, as opposed to their architecture and design programs.

 

I've never heard of that school. Besides, UC Berkley is the school of choice for that major if your from the San Francisco bay area anyhow.

 

Yeah, I know, you're right. It's even more difficult to understand why someone would attend an unaccredited MBA program when there's so many other (accredited) choices.

 

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the info and help.
Just to be clear, I was curious about the Green MBA due to the price, and only after I received an email offering a discounted tuition rate.
But I have no interest in an unaccredited program, which is what prompted the question - to verify accreditation, or lack of.

 

Yeah, for architecture what matters is NAAB, not RA> My school (AAU) have been grating NAAB accredited M. Arch degree before they got RA accreditation.

Having said that, I think it's very unlikely that a 100% online degree will get NAAB accreditation.

My school has almost an online version of almost all of it's programs, but not for the M. Arch degree (they only have the oncampus program ans a hybrid, oncampus and online) - because NAAB won't let them.

 

In California certain other licensed engineers can design buildings and even unlicensed architects can design certain buildings.
http://www.cab.ca.gov/pdf/misc/design_limitations.pdf

 

Please do not waste your money at SFIA. I enrolled in their distance learning program only to discover they are essentially a scam. The homework is all very generic -- the same set of questions to answer for every assigned book. At first they will respond to your emailed assignments but the response time will slow until you never hear from them again. If you complain and ask for a refund they will simply ignore you.