Regional Accreditation

would anyone know if one accreditation is more widely accepted than the other?
Out of the following six accrediting bodies?
1. MSA--Middle States Association
2. NASC--Northwest Association of Schools & Colleges
3. NCA--North Central Association of Colleges & Schools
4. NEASC--New England Association of Schools & Colleges
5. SACS--Southern Association of Colleges & Schools
6. WASC--Western Association of Schools & Colleges

 

These are the six regional associations recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. I doubt that any one would be substantially more prestigious than another.

There might be some regional variation. I live in Iowa and know people in schools in Iowa, S & N Dakota, Missouri & Indiana -- all in North Central territory, so the North Central name is much more familiar to me.

 

If what you mean by widely accepted are the usual things a degree is accepted for (job, salary increase, admission to grad school), then all are equally accepted.

As far as prestige, as Kristin mentioned that very much depends where you're from. All of them have their "heavy hitters"....New England has Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth, Middle States has Princeton & UPenn, Western has Stanford & UC-Berkeley, etc....


Bruce