As far as college goes which is better regionaly accredited or nationally

Question

I am 30 years old thinking of going back to college. There is a college here in florida called strayer university geared towards older working people like myself. I am concerned however about going to some small school like this and then the degree or credits i get being no good anywhere else. my admissions officer says that they are regionally accredited and that any credits i get there will transfer anywhere. He said nationally accredited schools are the ones that don't always transfer. Is this true? Nationally sounds better than regionally to me. Thanks

Answer 1

I know it sounds backwards, but regional accreditation is actually much better than national.  He was correct.  But to make sure, find out which agencies have accredited the school, and make sure they are listed as an agency recognized by the US Department of Education (find some lists here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rec... ).  Some schools will try to get around the accreditation problem by establishing their own accrediting agency to accredit themselves - this doesn't help them.

Answer 2

There are three levels of accreditation:  It sounds illogical but the counselor is correct, RA is generally better than NA.

Regional accreditation is for entire schools and is the highest level.  There are six regional accreditors with names like The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  We know these by their abbreviation such as SACS.

National accreditors are nationwide in scope and accredit entire schools too.  These are accreditors like DETC and ACICS.  They are legit and recognized by the US Govt but regionally accredited colleges normally won't accept their credit.

Program accreditors are nationwide in scope but only recognize specific programs in their specialty.  For music it's NASM, for business it's AACSB.  There are hundreds of these.  This can be helpful to have and in some fields it's just about essential. (APA, ALA, ABA, etc...) but they also need to be regionally accredited to give you maximum utility.

Strayer University is regionally accredited by Middle States Association (MSA) http://www.msche.org/

That said, some 4000 other colleges and universities are also regionally accredited in the US and Strayer Univ. is thought of by many as near the bottom of those 4000.  Not the bottom, but down in the bottom.

US News ranks them as "International, specialized, and other institutions, unranked" which isn't too inspiring but, they are legit and regionally accredited.

Explore some other options too.  I suspect that you can find many options that are better reputed and cost less.  Of course, a degree from Strayer U. is better than no degree at all no matter what people who have no degree tell you.  Ã¢Â˜Âº

Answer 3

Nationally accredited is better, but you have the possibility of credits not transferring from any school.  If you go to a regionally accredited school, then the credits are more likely to transfer to another school in the same region, but might not transfer to another school in a different region.

Answer 4

Call the Department of Education in Florida and ask them. It sounds that you think your counsellor is not leveling with you so...go to the source. No favors at state level.

Answer 5

colleges that are nationally accredited.