Accreditation from an official organization is a guarantee that the education you receive from a college is of an agreed-upon acceptable quality. Degrees from an accredited college are recognized by professional organizations as well as other accredited institutions. Entire colleges, programs or just individual courses can receive accreditation.
College accreditation gives the assurance that the education you receive is of high quality, and is useful and relevant. Students at accredited colleges can apply for federal grants or loans through government student assistance programs. Most employers, if they fund your education, only reimburse your tuition if you attend an accredited college. You can only transfer credits to another university or college for previous courses if you took the courses at an accredited school.
Accrediting agencies are private educational associations of regional or national scope. They develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not each school or program they examine meets these criteria. The U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognizes and validates the accrediting agencies. These two organizations recognize six regional accrediting agencies that accredit entire colleges and universities. In addition, the Distance Education and Training Council is recognized as an accrediting agency for distance education courses. Credits and degrees earned from a school accredited by one agency are valid at any school accredited by the other agencies. In Canada, college accreditation is provided by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
The U.S. Department of Education provides a database of accredited post-secondary institutions and programs. You can search by state, institution or accrediting agency. As well as colleges and universities, the database contains institutions that teach other subjects, such as trades, alternative medicine and funeral service education.