national accreditation

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by webmonkey, Mar 6, 2001.

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  1. webmonkey

    webmonkey New Member

    Hi:
    I have a BA degree in art. Graduated in '94. I went to an art school (not DL) in California for this. At the time when I went to school and until recently, like a lot of people out there, I did not know the difference between national and regional accredited schools. It is not a "bad" school in that it does offer very good art classes and I underwent a rigorous program. I scored a 3.45 GPA. It has accreditation by ACICS and NASAD. But now after so many years, I've decided to return to grad school, I find myself having a heck of a hard time getting past the admissions departments because they tell me that they have an issue with a national accredited school. I've done my share of research and am learning a lot about accreditation. Read a ton of stuff at CHEA, talked to ACICS, talked to CHEA and the school. CHEA tells me that the regional bodies do not have any stipulations that RA schools not accept nationally accredited schools and in fact CHEA doesn't recommend this practice at all. CHEA asked me for names of schools that have told me that they don't want me because of this technicality. Well and so for now, I'm "screwed". So, here are my questions:

    1) What kind of legal grounds do I have? Looking back, I do know that the school should have told its students that they'd have problems being accepted by other schools because of the accreditation issue. I would have immediately gone to a different school had I known. Present marketing materials from the school say this "we are a leading accredited art school....."

    2) I cannot afford the money to take any personal legal actions toward the school even though I wish I can. I know that the school isn't operating illegally because it does have accreditation, just not the "right" one.

    3) I know I can go the route of pursuing another BA degree. I'd only have to do 2 years since I already have a BA degree. Perhaps this may be the better solution although of course in my heart, I wish I didn't have to for I have paid 4 years of due at school.

    Pls advise.
     
  2. levicoff

    levicoff Guest

    The decision of whether to accept or reject applicants who have graduated from a nationally-but-not-regionally accredited school does not rest with CHEA, nor with any of the individual accreditors (regional included); it rests with the individual school to which the student applies.

    None. Both ACICS and NASAD are U.S. Department of Education-approved accreditors. Therefore, it is perfectly legal for your alma mater to claim to be accredited school. (In fact, it is even legal to claim accreditation if the accreditation is from an accrediting mill, as we see with degree mills every day.)

    Correct, and you would lose the case anyway (notwithstanding heavy legal fees, since no attorney would take this case on a contingency fee basis). For better or worse, this is simply a case of lack of consumer awareness. And you are by no means alone.

    You might have to do less than two years. If you decide to parlay your past work into a regionally accredited degree, the best route would probably be through the portfolio process. You would, of course, have to use course descriptions from regionally accredited schools; to see how to do this, go to the Thomas Edison State College section of my home page (http://levicoff.tripod.com) and read the three articles there. (Disclosure: I graduated from Edison myself, did 98 credits by portfolio, and pulled it off ina year and a half. And I went in with only six credits. TESC is not your only option to pull it off fast and cheap, but in my opinion it's the best for portfolio credit.)

    One thing you did not mention: In what field are you seeking to do a graduate degree? If it's art, you might want to look further and find a regionally accredited school that will make an exception - they do exist. If it's in another field, you will probably have to do another bachelor's.
     
  3. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Did you attend Academy of Art College in SF? They are the biggest NASAD but not RA art school here in the Bay Area. Pretty cool school in my opinion.

    My suggestions:

    1. If you are interested in graduate study in art, look at those NASAD but not-RA schools. They have quite a few MFA programs, I believe, and I'm sure that they would be more friendly to someone in your situation. The biggest problem with that is if you intend to teach at an RA school or college.

    2. Talk to the RA schools that have been giving you a hard time. I believe that their biggest problem with the non-RA art schools is that the non-RA schools require less general education than the RA. So perhaps the RA schools would be willing to consider you if you took some additional coursework to make up the deficiencies. That would be a lot easier than earning a second bachelors.
     
  4. webmonkey

    webmonkey New Member

    Yes, it was the Academy of Art College in SF. The thing is the program is legit and it was no easy cakes then or now. So, I definitely put in my time and sweat. I'm not pursuing a master's in art. I'm actually hoping to get into law school.
    If I did want to do art, I'd most likely not have any problems getting into another art school for most graduate art schools (RA ones), care very much about portfolio. A strong portfolio gets one far in the art world.

    The Academy is a school that offers a good art education (not at all because I went there but just to be fair to the program). I just don't like the family than runs the school. Most of the students then did not like them and now that I know what's going on, I like them even less. They're totally into profit making. In my opinion, they could have tried getting RA for the school and now of course I wouldn't be in the situation I'm facing.

    The problem with the RA schools is that they flat turn their faces away without even giving me a chance to say I'd take more GE classes. I'd be happy to do that if they asked.

     
  5. webmonkey

    webmonkey New Member

    Hi Levicoff:
    Very interesting idea about TESC. I'm still a little unclear about TESC's portfolio system. My target grad degree is a JD. I want to go to law school. But since my graduation from art school, I've worked in web development in the high tech industry and have 5 years of work experience. I've amassed a solid portfolio of work. If I had to return for a second bachelor's, I'd do it in IT since it's so closely related to what I do for work that it won't mean breaking my back to study for it. I've looked into UofP's and Univ of Maryland's IT programs. What I want is something I can do quickly without having a courseload that'd kill me, something that won't cost me so much money. This second degree in every way is a "make up" degree to me. Yes, I'd need to score a great GPA on it if I want to go to law school but I need it to be "easy" for me to deal with. Would the TESC program allow me to translate my past degree and work experience into credits and hence I won't be left with a ton to complete? How do grad schools (law schools) look at a TESC degree? I truly do not want any more schools telling me that I am not eligible because of some technicality. I've been through this and it's far too painful.

     
  6. webmonkey

    webmonkey New Member

    The TESC links on your page are all broken. Looks like TESC has moved those pages.

    If TESC would allow me to combine my past BA degree and 5 years of web dev work, I'll be in heaven and get another BA out of it, I'll be in heaven.

     
  7. David Boyd

    David Boyd New Member

    All ABA law schools have special admissions policies. The ABA does not require new admittees have a Bachelor's degree at all, much less from a RA school.

    If I recall correctly, two or three years ago Yale admitted an individual who had no college credits at all. Of course, it helped he had high LSAT scores and was a self-made multi-millionaire.

    Applications are down at most ABA schools. If your LSAT scores are good, I'd be surprised if you weren't accepted by a number of schools.
     
  8. webmonkey

    webmonkey New Member

    This is very interesting to know. I wrote to Univ of San Diego's law school just to test the waters as to what law schools around the country are asking for. They wrote me back stating that all they need is an accredited degree and it doesn't matter if it's national or regional. I suspect that all they truly care about a good GPA and high LSAT. A high LSAT would probably blind law schools completely. This is often true with schools that require an entrance exam. But I'm still waiting for other schools to respond. I am not in San Diego of course and might not live there but it's good to know the policies of law schools around the country.

    The high GPA part I'm cool with because I did well for my BA degree. The letters of recommendation, I'm OK with too. It's just the technicalities of a degree's accreditation that I am very worried about.

     
  9. webmonkey

    webmonkey New Member

    Hi:
    I talked to a friend of mine today who told me that some news he'd heard that a student sued a college in Florida for not letting him in because he went to a nationally accredited school. I asked my friends if he remembered the name of the school or details of it but he said he couldn't remember and that he just heard it in passing.

    Have any of you heard of this news?

    Thanks.
     

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