Viorel, Cook's Institute of Electronics is accredited by the National Association of Private, Nontraditional Schools & Colleges, an agency not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. You can learn more about accreditation at http://www.degree.net . If you apply yourself, you can learn electronics at Cook's, and some employers may hire you. However, many employers will not recognize the degree and you would not be eligible to work on certain U.S. Government-affiliated contracts which require a degree accredited by an agency approved by the Dept. of Education. You might also consider Grantham School of Electronics (http://www.grantham.edu) and Cleveland Institute of Electronics (http://www.cie-wc.edu), two schools which deliver electronics education via correspondence and are accredited by the recognized Distance Education and Training Council. Good luck, Mark A. Sykes
No. At least not by an agency that meets GAAP. Cook's has been around since the 1970s, however, and may provide a decent amount of instruction. However, the credential may not be as valuable to you as those available from schools with recognized accreditation. It used to go, "Cook's? No. Grantham." However, there are now so many opportunities to earn IT-related degrees from regionally accredited schools that even a DETC-accredited program may not be ideal. In fact, I notice in Bear, Bear, and McQueary's "Bears' Guide to the Best Computer Degrees by Distance Learning" that only one DETC-accredited school--ISIM University--appears. Oh, and no unaccredited program is there, including Cook's. Rich Douglas
And not likely to be so recognized. The NAPNSC has petitioned some six or seven times over the past 25 years for listing by the U.S. DOE to no avail. Bear tells the story that the founder burned his bridges after the last rejection. NAPNSC has always been pretty small, and seems to accredited pretty good schools (at least, pretty good compared to the dreadful unaccredited schools). It was founded by--and shared office space and staff with--the now-defunct Western Colorado University when it became clear that WCU wasn't going to make any headway with its regional accreditor. Schools have come and gone (including California Coast University), but they've never been very big. Many schools abandoned the agency as it became clearer they (NAPNSC) would not become recognized. Rich Douglas, who had a nice little chat with Dr. Heusser (sp? :confused 20 years ago. Where has the time gone?