ACCREDITATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES |
Accreditations in the United States are performed by private non-governmental accrediting agencies. There is no special approval or recognition procedure for any accrediting agency in the United States. Government agencies (including the U.S. Department of Education) can not influence in any way creation and accreditation work of any accrediting agency. In the United States, contrary to the common myths intentionally disseminated by the people promoting high costs for education, the U.S. Department of Education has no legal authority to approve or to recognize accrediting agencies, unless the accrediting agency voluntarily agrees to submit itself to the control of this governmental agency. |
This article was adopted from non-copyrighted materials obtained from the United States Department of Education. All Explanatory Notes are protected by copyright law.
Overview of the United States Accreditations
According to the U.S. Department of Education:
"The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.
Accrediting agencies, which are private non-governmental entities, develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not educational criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency's evaluation and that meet an agency's (accrediting agency - private non-governmental entity) criteria are then "accredited" by that agency".
COMMENTS:
Accreditations in the United States are performed by private non-governmental entities (accrediting agencies that are non-governmental private entities) and not by the U.S. Department of Education. There is no special approval or recognition procedure for any accrediting agency in the United States. No governmental agency (including the U.S. Department of Education) can influence in any way creation and accreditation work of any accrediting agency.
According to the U.S. Department of Education:
"The U.S. Department of Education does not accredit educational institutions and/or programs. However, the Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies" [See explanation, this form of "recognition" has NO any relevance to the quality or authority of any accrediting agency, it is a recognition related to the acceptance of federal government payments].
"An agency seeking national recognition by the Secretary must meet the Secretary's procedures and criteria for the recognition of accrediting agencies. Some of the criteria for recognition, such as the criterion requiring a link to Federal programs, have no bearing on the quality of an accrediting agency; however, they do have the effect of making some agencies ineligible for recognition for reasons other than quality" [Someone in the U.S. Department of Education created this paragraph in extremely confusing way and educational manipulators are using this not clear statement for their advantage in dissemination of false and incorrect information].
COMMENTS:
The above-stated paragraph was constructed by the U.S. Department of Education in a very confusing way, by mistake or with some other unknown agenda...
Words used by the U.S. Department of Education, such as "nationally recognized accrediting agencies", have nothing to do with any official form of any 'national recognition' because higher education, as a form of education in the United States has no any 'national recognitions' for accreditation agencies. Accreditation agencies (accreditation organizations or companies) are private non-governmental entities that are controlling their own affairs and absolutely do not need any 'national recognition'.
Statement made by the U.S. Department of Education, clearly defines the fact that the U.S. Department of Education ONLY publishes the lists of accrediting agencies that the U.S. Department of Education recognizes. HOWEVER, it "recognizes" an accrediting agency not as an entity that has the ability to perform educational accreditations, or to be an accrediting agency, but it recognizes such an accrediting agency as a governmental contractor.
U.S. Department of Education only “recognizes” accrediting agencies for the purposes of accrediting colleges and universities that would be accepting Federal Aid and Federal Loans program payments (payments originating from the federal government - payments made by using the United States taxpayers money).
These "recognitions" are NOT indicating any form of authority, legitimacy or the quality of the involved accrediting agency.
Accrediting agencies are not controlled by the U.S. Department of Education and all accrediting agencies ("recognized" and not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education) have exactly the same legal status to accredit any educational institution in the United States (according to the U.S. laws).
Recognition to act as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Education is necessary to establish legal basis to the issuance of governmental payments to universities that are accredited by governmental contractors (accredited by accrediting agencies that became governmental contractors and recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as governmental contractors). Any independent accreditation agency is not a governmental contractor if it is not on the list of the U.S. Department of education.
Universities that are not accredited by governmental contractors cannot receive money from the federal government; however it is not diminishing the quality of universities in any way, it is just telling that universities are not financially supported by the federal government and are fully independent.
At the same time, this so-called "national recognition" by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education has no connection to the legitimacy of any accrediting agency or the quality of education provided in universities accredited by governmental contractors (accredited by accrediting agencies that became governmental contractors).
Private universities are not obligated to follow any specific rules established by the federal government because the federal government cannot control educational affairs (the same applies for any state government). Any control of educational affairs is prohibited by constitutional provisions (federal law). On this basis, the federal government only can issue payments to universities that would agree to obey at least some rules created by the federal government (for example, non-discrimination, equal access, etc.).
"Recognition" by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education is not a recognition of the legitimacy or the quality of any accrediting agency, but only a "recognition" that an accrediting agency became governmental contractor for the purpose of accrediting universities that are accepting payments provided by the federal government.
Accrediting agencies are recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education only to be governmental contractors and not as any form of authority.
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Word "recognition" created significant confusion because most people assume that it is a form of recognition to perform something or to be of better quality. In reality, it only indicates that an accrediting agency entered into the contract (official mutual agreement) with the federal government represented by the U.S. Department of Education. As a result of this "mutual agreement", accreditation agency voluntarily submits itself to the government control and enters into contract with the federal government to provide accreditations for colleges and universities that would be accepting payments originating from the federal government and at the same time would be following prescribed by the federal government rules, as a necessary condition for the acceptance by colleges and universities (accredited by an accreditation agency that is a governmental contractor) payments made by the federal government. |
U.S. Department of Education recognitions are the recognitions not of the quality or the authority of the accrediting agency, but recognitions of the ability (and willingness) to provide accreditations for colleges and universities that would be accepting federal government payments.
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Colleges and universities are not obligated to accept any payments from any government. At the same time, the main part of all financial revenues in any college or university usually originates in the form of governmental payments for the Federal Aid programs and Federal Educational Loans. Almost all high-priced colleges and universities would NOT be able to exist and would not be able to collect their high tuition costs without accepting payments from the federal government. To be able to accept the federal government payments, these colleges and universities must be accredited only by the accrediting agencies that are under the control of the U.S. Department of Education (accrediting agencies that became governmental contractors and are "recognized" only to be governmental contractors). |
As it is stated by the U.S. Department of Education, this governmental agency recognizes accrediting agencies, BUT ONLY AS A CONDITION FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE FEDERAL AID AND FEDERAL EDUCATIONAL LOANS PROGRAMS by colleges and universities accredited by the accrediting agencies that the U.S. Department of Education recognizes. The recognitions made by the U.S. Department are recognitions of the contractual (agreed by contract) relationship only.
When the U.S. Department of Education publishes a list of "recognized" accrediting agencies, this list only serves as a guidance for the potential students that are looking for educational institutions that are accepting payments made (or originating) by the federal government. Governmental educational loans have lower interest rates; accordingly, it is a very important fact for the students attending (or planning to attend) universities with high tuition costs (because almost all students are taking educational loans to pay for high educational costs).
Moreover, the U.S. Department of Education has no legal authority to give any preferential treatment for any accrediting agency (in comparison to other accrediting agencies). Legitimacy and quality of any accrediting agency is not established by the U.S. Department of Education, but established by the acts of an accrediting agency.
IT ALSO CLEARLY PROVIDED by the U.S. Department of Education that such “recognitions have no bearing on the quality of an accrediting agency."
Colleges and universities that are not accepting any payments from the federal government (Federal Aid and Federal Educational Loans programs) have no need to be accredited, or can be accredited by any accreditation agency independent from the U.S. Department of Education (because relationship with this governmental entity is not an indicator of any authority or the quality of education, but an indicator of the voluntarily submission to the federal government control).
Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education is not regulatory, but only an informative branch of the federal government. This explains the fact that the U.S. Department of Education needs voluntary submission of any accrediting agency, before the U.S. Department of Education can exercise any form of control over an accrediting agency and any university that is accredited by a governmental contractor.
Historically, universities were designated to be the creators of the human intelligence (based on the principles of education) and when such creative activities are monitored by the governmental agencies (that always have political agendas), these universities are losing their original independence and in the same way, are loosing free and unbiased educational spirit.
According to the U.S. Department of Education:
"The United States has no federal Ministry of Education or other centralized authority exercising single national control over postsecondary (higher) educational institutions in this country."
"In general, institutions of higher education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy. As a consequence, American educational institutions can vary widely in the character and quality of their programs".
"In order to ensure a basic level of quality, the practice of accreditation arose in the United States as a means of conducting nongovernmental, peer evaluation of educational institutions and programs".
"The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies, which are private non-governmental entities, develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not educational criteria are met".
"Institutions and/or programs that request an [accrediting] agency's evaluation and that meet an [accrediting] agency's criteria are then "accredited" by that agency."
"Accreditation does not provide automatic acceptance by an institution of credit earned at another institution, nor does it give assurance of acceptance of graduates by employers. Acceptance of credits or graduates is always the prerogative of the receiving institution or employer."
'Private educational associations of regional or national scope have adopted criteria reflecting the qualities of a sound educational program and have developed procedures for evaluating institutions or programs to determine whether or not they are operating at basic levels of quality'.
Some Functions of Accreditation
1. Verifying that an institution or program meets established standards;
2. Assisting prospective students in identifying acceptable institutions;
3. Assisting institutions in determining the acceptability of transfer credits;
4. Helping to identify institutions and programs for the investment of public and private funds;
5. Protecting an institution against harmful internal and external pressure;
6. Creating goals for self-improvement of weaker programs and stimulating a general raising of standards among educational institutions;
7. Involving the faculty and staff comprehensively in institutional evaluation and planning;
8. Establishing criteria for professional certification and licensure and for upgrading courses offering such preparation;
9. Providing one of several considerations used as a basis for determining eligibility for Federal assistance.
Accreditation Procedure
1. Standards: The accrediting agency, in collaboration with educational institutions, establishes standards.
2. Self-study: The institution or program seeking accreditation prepares an in-depth self-evaluation study that measures its performance against the standards established by the accrediting agency.
3. On-site Evaluation: A team selected by the accrediting agency visits the institution or program to determine first-hand if the applicant (institution) meets the established standards.
4. Publication: Upon being satisfied that the applicant meets its standards, the accrediting agency grants accreditation or pre-accreditation status and lists the institution or program in an official publication with other similarly accredited or pre-accredited institutions or programs.
5. Monitoring: The accrediting agency monitors each accredited institution or program throughout the period of accreditation granted to verify that it continues to meet the agency's standards.
6. Reevaluation: The accrediting agency periodically reevaluates each institution or program that it lists to ascertain whether continuation of its accredited or pre-accredited status is warranted.
Types of Accreditations
There are two basic types of educational accreditation, one referred to as "institutional" and the other referred to as "specialized" or "programmatic."
Institutional accreditation normally applies to an entire institution, indicating that each of an institution's parts is contributing to the achievement of the institution's objectives, although not necessarily all at the same level of quality.
The various regional accrediting agencies can perform institutional accreditation, as do many national accrediting agencies.
Programmatic accreditation normally applies to programs, departments, or schools that are parts of an institution. The accredited unit may be as large as a college or school within a university or as small as a curriculum within a discipline. Most of the specialized or programmatic accrediting agencies review units within an institution of higher education that is accredited by one of the regional accrediting agencies. However, certain accrediting agencies can accredit professional schools and other specialized or vocational institutions of higher education that are freestanding in their operations. Thus, a "specialized" or "programmatic" accrediting agency may also function in the capacity of an "institutional" accrediting agency. In addition, a number of specialized accrediting agencies are providing accreditations to educational programs within non-educational settings, such as hospitals".
Due to the facts described above, Accreditation Council for Educational Standards of Schools and Universities™ is willing to provide fully independent accreditation services that are not influenced by any government or by any political agenda.
Relevant pages:
“Accreditations in the United States” ->
“United States Department of Education” ->
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