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| http://blog.edvisors.com/online-schools/how-to-spot-a-degree-mill/ |
Students have gone or are
consider going to a non-accredited school because it’s cheaper and it takes
less time to earn the degree. But there are reasons to why these schools are so
cheap. Many students are either uninformed or skeptical of the important role
accreditation plays in distance education. To help get a better idea of how
important a degree from an accredited institution is to your future, consider
these eight reasons why you should avoid non-accredited institutions and
programs.
You’ll receive a less-respected degree.
Employers want the best
educated and trained employees. But they can’t be sure they’ll get that from a
candidate with a degree from a non-accredited institution. A degree from an
accredited institution or program offers them assurance that you have learned
the skills necessary to properly do the job.
You may get a lower quality education.
Non-accredited programs
and institutions have no educational requirements or accountability so there’s
nothing or no one to oversee what is being taught and by whom.
Financial Aid won’t be available.
You can only apply for
and receive financial aid if you are registered in an accredited institution or
program.
Your credits won’t be transferrable.
If you attend a
non-accredited institution or program, then decide to transfer some place
that’s accredited, the credits you’ve earned won’t be transferrable.
You’ll waste your money.
Without Financial Aid
you’ll be responsible for paying the full cost of a lower quality distance
learning education. And you may miss out on the job you want.
You’ll be passed over for scholarships.
Organizations offer
scholarships as a way of helping the students most in need and who they feel
will put scholarship funds to good use. If you enroll in a non-accredited
institution or program, you’ll have a difficult time convincing scholarship
committees that you fit these criteria.
Your support system won’t be as good.
In a non-accredited
distance learning institution or program, you won’t find Financial Aid
counselors, there might not be any career advisors, and there may not be an
opportunity for one-on-one relationship building with professors; all of which
are crucial to your educational success.
Extra-curricular activities will be non-existent.
Important but not crucial
to your education are extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities
are a great way to network, meet like-minded people, and learn. However, these
probably won’t available at non-accredited schools either.
Question
#2 of Week 4:
Many students within this
class have experience with the finding jobs and transferring credits within
colleges. Please share with us your experiences of accreditation situations.
Either it is trouble within transferring or how success it has been.
Sources:
In response to your question...I graduated in 1998 with a degree in Visual Communication (Graphic Design) from a small school in Iowa. The school did not do a very good job of writing their course descriptions. UNC Charlotte did not accept my transfer credits as apples-for-apples for similar course that they offered. I received a few undergraduate course as transfers, but most credits transferred in as electives. This encouraged me to switch fields and study something new, Accounting.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your blog post...I couldn't agree more with what you have written. Having taught at one of these type schools in Minneapolis I can tell you it has little to do with education and everything to do with money. In general, this caused the instructors to worry about student retention, not the quality of education they were giving.
I did go to a small non-accredited college to study travel. At the time most travel agencies required graduation from a travel school or experience in order to get a job. I won't say that I regret it, but I could have probably come out better if I went to CPCC for the same program. It would have been cheaper and those credits would have transferred when I decided to go back to school.
ReplyDeleteI am a strong supporter of the community college system and I feel that it is a much better option than for profit schools. Typically it is much cheaper, CPCC offers an option to take many of their classes online, they provide resources for financial aid and tutoring, and your credits will transfer to a 4 year college. If you are like me and have been out of school for a while and are unsure if you can make it at a 4 year university, community college is a great place to start. Personally I feel that the degree you receive from a brick and mortar accredited 4 year university holds a lot more value than many for profit schools that may or may not be accredited.
This is an issue that I have never thought about and would have easily over looked if I was considering going to a smaller, online (unaccredited)school. I see schools like this advertised on TV all the time and would have never thought about this issue. To someone that has not been educated in this issue about the importance of your degree being from an accredited school, one of these online schools would be very appealing. Someone who is having to pay their way through college and possibly support a family at the same time would be drawn to a college that is much cheaper and offered flexible online classes that they could fit into their schedule. They think they are working hard to create a better life for them and their family. They work hard to get their degree and spend extra money that they don't have. Little do they know, this degree might be worthless if its coming from an unaccredited school. They many have wasted many hours and money because they are ignorant to the facts. I feel bad for anyone who is in the dark on this issue.
ReplyDeleteI went to a community college not far from here and got an associates degree. I was instructed at my previous school had I not gotten the degree then not all of my credits would have transferred to uncc but with the degree every credit would transfer. I got the degree and every credit did transfer. I'm not sure how it would have been had I not.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very informative and I do wondered how much importance is still held today on that fact of which school your degree comes from. I never knew that the credits a person might get at this type of institution cannot be transferred. But this definitely makes sense because the types of courses at these two different types of schools would differ dramatically. This post definitely points out valuable things to considered and weigh your options when trying to make the right decision. Resources including educated professors, computer labs, huge library, advisors, etc. we do not think about much here at UNCC because it is so readily available. Our educational experience would probably be very different if we didn’t have them at easy access on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine chose not to go to a local law school, because, he explained, at its beginning it was unaccredited. The school stated that once the accreditation process was completed and the school became accredited any graduates would be retroactively share in the benefits thereof. He pointed out to me the simple question "What if they fail to get accredited?" Using this real world example, I wonder how many online colleges have this same thought process.
ReplyDelete-Tom Cornell
I went to CPCC and got an associate in arts, AA degree was a transfer degree. In other words the degree I pursued on CPCC, I pl transferred to Queens University and all my courses transferred towards my bachelors degree in Business. I was happy with the school but the Business Administration degree I was pursuing required 120 credit hours to graduate. However, the business degree only required 59 credit hours and the rest on elective credit hours. I tried to take the elective courses in another institute for the reason to save money. Unfortunately, the university wouldn't let you take courses out of the school unless the courses aren't offer there. So, I didn't have any other choice and I decided to transfer to UNCC. When I transferred all my courses some business credits hours didn't transferred because it wasn't the same level. But, I was surprised that Queens University did transferred as a business credit hour and UNCC didn't. I guess every institute has their own accreditation level!
ReplyDelete