can someone please list some schools that are affordable for a BS in IT

I thought that might be the case.

 

I apologize everyone i meant Colorado state university global campus. they offer the BS in IT and they are regionally accredited as well as not for profit. They would charge me 315 per credit. So far it seems decent i just hope to be well prepared enough for after graduation. through the courses i have read some reviews on here and some mention that some of their programs did not challenge them enough or did not get them prepared. Would anyone know anything about this school since the reviews i read are a bit old?

 

ABET does certainly have accreditation for information technology (and other computing) degree programs, not just engineering. Regional accreditation alone will not provide any program specific information about your selected course of study instead relying on institution-wide metrics.

An ABET accredited program provides you with an assurance that the IT program meets some level of quality. Non-accredited programs will vary widely in their applicability to the discipline, and for students their employability and ability to succeed.

 

would the Information Technology Degree have to be ABET accredited in order to be considered more highly by employers or as long as the school is regionally accredited fine for a bachelors degree in IT for employment? I have also searched different online schools and not many online degrees in IT seem to be ABET accredited, very rare to find and if it is it seems somewhat overpriced. Does it have to be ABET accredited though for just a BS in IT?

 

It depends on the employer and the skills you bring. A program that is not ABET accredited does not automatically mean it is bad, but there is variation. ABET accreditation sends a signal that the program has met the standards of the discipline. Again, regional accreditation says little about the specific program and it's quality. Like some other posters were trying to say, if you can demonstrate that you have the technical skills then the degree sometimes can be a formality. Unless you have experience with the technology though and/or industry certs, demonstrating these skills is hard in a resume or interview.

Why you are having trouble finding ABET accredited IT degrees is because in my opinion that is difficult to accomplish. Tools to effectively teach students the applied/hands-on IT skills are only just now starting to mature to a point to make it possible. Capella University, as I think you found, does have an accredited IT program. You might also search ABET's site for those programs that are accredited under General Criteria Only (CAC). These programs are ABET accredited under the general computing criteria but not under IT because often they are not named IT or have a different specific flavor (networking or security for example). You can still claim them as ABET accredited on your resume.

Good luck!

 

* difficult to accomplish online that is (IT degrees)

 

I checked the top 10 computer science programs in the US, as ranked by US News. Of those, the majority (6 of 10) are currently not ABET-accredited in computer science/IT (although they all have ABET accreditation in engineering). For the record, those top-ranked schools were Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Washington, Princeton, and Texas.

So it is true that the lack of ABET accreditation does not mean that a CS/IT program is bad. In fact, a school can be among the best in the US, and still lack ABET accreditation for CS/IT. In these cases, the prestigious school name is more valuable, as a signal of quality, than the ABET name.

But it's not always feasible to attend a school with a famous name, and that's when ABET accreditation becomes more important. If an employer isn't familiar with your school, then ABET accreditation offers some assurance of quality.

 

I figured i searched all over and i have not found an ABET accredited online degree other than what the poster and others on here mentioned which is Capella and which is overpriced for a bachelors in general information technology oh and Regis university i think as well. Other than that everything else just seems regionally accredited. I figured i should work hard on my certifications and try to get experience.

 

Perhaps not for many, but 1) you will be able to say on your resume that the program is accredited and 2) you have some guarantee of being taught relevant subject matter/IT skills