Accredited Degree vs. Accredited School

I started my degree (environmental engineering) program before my school was accredited. About 3/4 of the way through they changed the name of the degree (environmental management) but those of us already enrolled remained using the original name. The courses remained the same.

Shortly thereafter, the school received DETC accreditation. I received my degree from an accredited university but is my "degree" accredited?

Ray

 

DETC, as an institutional accrediting agency, doesn't accredit individual degree programs. If you graduated with your degree after your school was accredited by DETC, you have a degree from an accredited school. The term "accredited degree" in this case is a short-cut method of saying that. Properly, the school (or degree program) is accredited, not the degree.

Programmatic accrediting agencies (like the ABA and the NLN) accredit specific programs within universities. For example, a regionally accredited university could offer an engineering program that is not accredited ABET. Graduates of that program have degrees from an accredited school, but might be out of luck in situations calling for a degree from an ABET-accredited program.

You have a degree from an acccredited school. It is reasonable to say you have an "accredited degree," although this isn't technically accurate for the reasons above. That your program changed prior to DETC acccreditation doesn't matter; when you graduated (compared to when DETC accredited your school) does.