Unfortunately, some
online universities are little more than "diploma mills," meaning
they will send you a degree for a payment, with little or no
academic studying required. These online universities are not
recognized by official accrediting organizations. A degree from one
of these universities is not generally accepted in the job market.
Furthermore, you will do serious damage to your career and may even
face criminal fraud charges if you use a "diploma mill" degree to
obtain a job or promotion for which you do not have the right
credentials or education (to learn
how to recognize and avoid diploma mills and
fake degrees, read our segment).
It's important to find an online
university that has been accredited either by a nationally-recognized
accrediting agency, or by a regional institutional accrediting agency recognized
by the
U.S. Department of Education. The Secretary of
Education publishes a list of organizations that are regarded as reliable
authorities on the quality of education or training provided by institutions of
higher education.
Top quality online universities
have been accredited by at least one recognized national or regional accrediting
agency. For example,
American InterContinental University is
accredited by the
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools, a regional institutional accrediting agency.
The
University of Phoenix Online is accredited
by the
Higher Learning Commission of the North Central
Association of Colleges and Schools, another regional accrediting
agency.
Certain online degree programs may
also be nationally or regionally accredited. For example, the
B.S. and M.S. degree programs in Nursing at the
University of Phoenix Online are certified by the
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, a
nationally-recognized accrediting agency.
To find out if an online university
or college has been accredited by a nationally-recognized or regional
institutional accrediting agency, you can access the
U.S. Department of Education search engine at:
http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.asp.
On the minus side, there is still
some bias against online university degrees from traditional universities
(mainly due to a feeling by traditional universities that online universities
are "cutting in on their territory.") Some online degrees will not transfer to
universities at which you may wish to pursue a graduate degree.
In theory, if you have a degree
from an accredited online university, it should be accepted as legitimate by any
traditional university or college. In practice, however, even if a traditional
college accepts your online degree as legitimate when you apply for
post-graduate study, there may still be some bias against you. Traditional
universities tend to favor applicants with traditional four-year college degrees
over those with online degrees when making decisions about who to accept for
advanced degree programs.
More Information
Check out these helpful websites,
which have summaries and links to all the major online university programs:
education-portal.com
earnmydegree.com
