National versus Regional

Re: DETC acceptance at Florida Universities

Does that mean if there is no mention of the acceptance of a DETC degree that you did not send a request to find out if it would be acceptable? It appears, from what you wrote above, that if there was no statement regarding the acceptance of a DETC degree you assumed that it was not acceptable.

GOOD WORK!

If I wanted to go to one of those schools I'd be asking them.

 

How about an act of congress or a presidential mandate! OOPS ... this just in; the DETC was recognized as a national accrediting body by the Dept. of Education under the guidance of the Education Secretary in the late 1950's. 1950's? It's 2002 now. Looks like we need to send the fat boy truck out to pick up a bunch stragglers.

 

You're not looking very carefully. I assumed nothing.

If the policy explicitly said "regionally accredited is required," then I believed them.

If they said nothing at all, I asked for a qualification.

If they said "regionally accredited is required for regular admission but...<some conditions by which a other degree holders may obtain provisional entry>," I believed them and quoted those conditions or put a link to them above. There were three or four like that. There was no need for a qualification because this was explicit. E.g, see the entry for the University of South Florida and the business school of Nova.

If they said "accredited" without any qualification, I asked for a qualification. I did not assume that they meant nationally accredited. This is justified; my first respondent asked me what "DETC" stood for. (I answered without an editorial and gave a link to DETC's site.)

Here is how I typically asked for clarification: "Under what circumstances may a student with a DETC-accredited undergraduate degree be admitted to a graduate program at <the university name>?"

There were minor variations to the question. For example, one school only had one (or two?) graduate degrees and so I named the degree(s).

No school specifically mentioned DETC in their policy, although one mentioned "nationally accredited" in the provisional acceptance statement. See above.

In short, I went out of my way to be fair and every detail of the results thus far was provided.

 

Sounds fair enough.

 

Bill,

First, I want to say that I appreciate your survey of Florida colleges, but your question assumes that the registrar knows that DETC is a legitimate USDoE and CHEA recognized national accreditation organization. Unfortunately, many college registrars are not even aware of DETC. Some may answer "no" without asking you for a clarification.

Personally, I would have explained what DETC is and asked for a clarification of their policy. For valid research (formal or informal), the question is as important as the answer.


Kevin

 

I missed that Kevin. Very good point. If one of them didn't even know what DETC was then they surely wouldn't know it's legitimate.

 

Two have asked and I told them what DETC means, gave the link to the web site and said that it was "a US DOE/CHEA recognized accrediting agency, but not a regional accreditor."

Keep in mind that these are college admissions people; they should know. My inquiry certainly gave a hint that DETC is an accrediting agency: "DETC-accredited degree."

 

Bill,

Unfortunately, we cannot assume that they know what DETC is. Your research has already indicated that two Florida colleges do not. My opinion is a "hint" is not good enough.

Remember?

 

It seems pretty clear that if DETC accreditation is so obsure that admissions people are unaware of it they are not likely to recognize it. It certainly wouldn't hurt to add a line describing it without promoting it but it truely seems like grasping at straws. Obviously if someone already has a DETC degree they have to work with what they have. For those at the beginning of their program it seems like a waste of potential.

 

Depending on the circumstances, I completed my Bachelor’s Degree from Florida Metropolitan University, which is accredited by Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, “ Nationally Accredited”.

I was fortunate that at time that my degree was conferred, there was an existing articulation agreement with Nova and Barry to accept former graduates of FMU into their respective business related Master’s Program. In doing so, I finished my Master's in Public Administration at Nova and I am looking forward to starting DBA program at Argosy University "RA"

In addition, Jones College a Non-RA, but it is also accredited by Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools participates in the “Florida’s Statewide Numbering System”, which allows certain courses to be accepted into a State of Florida Universities such as FIU, FAU, ETC.

http://www.jones.edu/Catalog/coursenumberingsystem.htm

 

It is becoming a non-issue if it ever was one; now four of them emailed back asking what DETC is. I reply with:

DETC is the Distance Education and Training Council accrediting agency. It is recognized as a national accrediting agency by the US DOE/CHEA, but it is not one of the regional accrediting agencies. It's website is www.detc.org.

This is surely enough for anyone. If I have any non-responses, I'll follow-up with the above text.

There has also been one response that says that only RA degrees are accepted.

 

Bill,

Non-issue? Four of nine Florida colleges did not know what DETC is. How can you assume that the remaining schools know it is a legitimate ?non-regional? accreditation body? Would you consider proactively emailing non-respondents with an explanation of DETC?

Bill, I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but I'm a researcher and would never get away with a question like you posted to the colleges. Additionally, I'm interested in the answer.


Kevin

 

I appreciate your concern, but if you are a researcher, then you should understand that I am doing research, not trying to reform the system.

If a school answers, "we only accept regionally accredited degrees" as two have, I'm not going to argue with them and try to convert them. I didn't contact the universities that had clear policies online, so why should I argue with those that give clear policies via email. If they use the magic phrase "regionally accredited," then that means that they have understood the question. If they say that they accept unaccredited or nationally accredited degrees, that also means that they have understood the question; I won't try to convert them to RA, either.

However, if they come back with a vague answer, as one did, or ask what DETC is, as four have, I will give them the information that I outlined earlier. That is very generous and leans towards the reformer side, since actual applicants can try to slide by without pointing out the form of accreditation. My inquiry was written so that they would assume I was an applicant, so they are eager to please...another reformer-leaning aspect. You can't really ask for more than that.

 

I meant to add:

That said, I've already stated in an earlier post that I would send DETC information to non-responders, but I will give them a couple more days. I'm surprised to have gotten this many responses so soon.

 

Re: Re: National versus Regional

In terms of utility of Nationally accredited degrees I have seen people with TRACS accredited D.Min.'s as faculty at a couple of accredited Universities. I think each time I have seen this it has been a graduate of Luther Rice Seminary's D.Min. and of course it is a conservative religious university like Liberty.

North

 

Florida Regionally Accredited, Public and Private Universities
Graduate Admissions Policy: Undergraduate Degree Requirements

Newly clarified:

(The whole list will be reposted once the remaining five schools respond or I give up on them.)

Jacksonville University
MAT program
A bachelor's degree from an accredited institution. A graduate of a nonaccredited institution may be admitted after successfully completing prerequisite undergraduate course requirements as determined by the M.A.T. Advisory Committee.
Clarification by email:
> Your degree must come from a regionally accredited university.

Lynn University
All applicants for the Master's degree must posses a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and should have a minimum B average (3.0 GPA) in upper division course work.
Clarification by email: (still a bit vague; didn't give a policy)
>Thanks for your quick reply. You can send in your transcript for review. I think we will be able to work with you.

St. Thomas University
No clear policy found online. Clarification by email:
>St. Thomas University requires that students have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. Unfortunately, many DETC-accredited programs are not regionally accredited. Consequently, it is very probable that you will not be accepted. You can apply at your own risk and if your academic credentials and your testing are at a very high level, the program coordinator could make appeal your case to the Dean of Graduate Studies. However, that is a very exceptional occurrence. I hope I have been helpful.


Florida Gulf Coast University
Florida Gulf Coast University
No stated policy online (other than general Board of Regents requirements).
Clarification via email:
>Thank you for your interest in Florida Gulf Coast University. We do require an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. We accept MSA, NASC, NCA, NEASC-CIHE, NEASC-CTCI, SACS-CC, WASC-Jr., and WASC-Sr. Anyone who has a degree from any other accrediting body would be considered as a special exception. You will need to contact the advisor for your program of interest to see about getting special consideration. If you contact us with your program of interest, we can send you the contact information for your advisor.

 

You may want to consider Argosy University. In accordance to their admission policies:

Bachelors: 51 semesters hours of course work from a regionally accredited institution or appropriately certified international educational institutions.

Masters: A baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited educational institution an appropriately certified international educational institution or select institutions accredited by recognized independent national or professional bodies.

Doctorate: A master’s degree from a regionally accredited educational institution an appropriately certified international educational institution or select institutions accredited by recognized independent national or professional bodies.

State Approval: Argosy University/Sarasota and Tampa are authorized by the State Board (Koger Center, Turner Building, Suite 200, Tallahassee, Florida 32301, 850-488-8695) Therefore, Argosy is considered to be a Florida University although RA is registered in ILL. GIVE THEM A TRY!!!

Argosy’s DBA program Tuition is very reasonable as opposed to any other private University in Florida, (Nova $38K, Union 40K Uni. of Miami 60K an Argosy 26K).