A co-worker brought something to my attention regarding accreditation: he says a school can be accredited but that doesn’t mean a program is accredited. Is this true? If so how can you find out if a program is accredited? Both schools are said to be RA. The two programs I’m interested in are: DePaul University – Bachelor of Arts with an Individualized Focus Area Antioch University-Human Services Administration
When schools start new programs, they have to be approved by the accreditor; but, I'm sure your friend was talking about programmatic accreditation. Sometimes, programmatic accreditation is required by a state licensing board or an important industry certification. In other cases, programmatic accreditation is just extra quality assurance, but not required. There is no recognized programmatic accreditation for those degree programs you listed. Many fields don't have a programmatic accreditor.
There are two types of accreditation: institutional and programmatic. Institutional accreditation covers the whole institution. Regional accreditation, for example, is a kind of institutional accreditation. Your local state university probably has RA as their institutional accreditation. But sometimes -- typically in professional fields -- there is specialized programmatic accreditation, which supplements the institutional accreditation. For example, suppose your local state university has a law school. The law school is covered by the university's RA, but it probably also has programmatic accreditation for its JD programs specifically from the American Bar Association. Your state probably requires lawyers to hold ABA-accredited JD degrees. In other words, general institutional accreditation isn't considered to provide enough quality control in this field; the state also requires supplemental accreditation that focuses on legal education specifically. The importance of programmatic accreditation varies from field to field, and from state to state. As noted in the previous post, programmatic accreditation is non-existent or optional for many degrees. It is more important or essential in highly regulated professional fields, like law, medicine, civil engineering, psychology, etc.
It isnt as complicated as it may seem. If a school is RA then it has institutional accreditation. If said school offers a program, it is a program offered by an accredited institution (and everything is completely fine). If a program has ADDITIONAL accreditation (or approvals say in the form of NAADAC), thats great too. Additional accreditation/license/approvals are generally not for academic purposes as much as employment purposes. So for example a masters in nursing from an accredited institution is a legitimate degree. However, a particular hiring entity (say a hospital) may require CCNE accreditation for the masters degree to count it for extra pay/promotions. For the two programs you mention, RA is fine.
This is great information. Thanks! My biggest concerns is employers not taking the program seriously and if I decide to get my Master's somewhere else the credits not transfering do to accreditation.
Know too that some Masters may require specific undergrad courses in order to sit for the Masters program. This is common with say some MBA programs that require a specific core of undergrad courses of an applicant. Most often this is required to make sure the entering class has a basic level of knowledge preparing them for the rigors of the program.
Generally the flow is unaccredited, sometimes state accreditation in between, national accreditation (e.g. DETC), regional accreditation, and then programmatic accreditation. For fields with the latter, regional accreditation is a silver, while programmatic is gold. There are a lot of fields with program accreditations. Even though it isn't always essential to getting a great job in the field, it can be important in some cases. In psychology for example, the Department of Veteran Affairs requires an APA accredited Ph.D./Psy.D to practice. Generally the more exclusive your programs/certifications are, the more it is accepted. Here are some examples: Psychology (APA), Social Work (CSWE), Engineering (ABET), Public Adminstration (NASPAA), Public Health (CEPH), School Psychology (NASP), Law (ABA), Marriage and Family Therapy (COMAFTE), Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABAI), Nursing (CCNE), Business Adminstration (ACBSP, AACSB), Health Informatics (CAHIIM) The best programs generally have programmatic accreditation. In most cases, these accreditation are present with regional accreditation.
The same co-worker said his online college degree didn't translate because the program wasn't accredited but the school was. I don't know if he got accurate information who if he's misguided. I just don't want to end up in the same position. If I survive my BA then I'd like to get my Master's.
