Accreditation is the process by which a school's academic program is audited by an accrediting agency. There are many different types of accrediting agencies that focus on giving prospective students the information they need in order to make an informed decision about which college they will attend. Employers and other colleges look at a candidate's school and that school's accreditation when considering the candidate for an available position or acceptance. Online colleges with no accreditation lack the authority to be recognized in the professional world.
Online colleges that lack accreditation are not able to offer their students substantial financial assistance. For those students who are considering online colleges because of their relatively low cost, this is an extremely important factor. Accredited online colleges and universities offer more options for federal financial-aid packages. Unaccredited online colleges are not able to offer their students the same types of federal financial aid because their programs are not recognized by the federal government as legitimate.
Because online unaccredited schools have no accrediting agencies auditing the quality of their education, many of these programs suffer from a lack of education quality. Students who attend online unaccredited colleges may find that they spend money on a degree and don't learn very much. Many employers do not value degrees from schools that lack accreditation, meaning that the student wasted money on an education that lacks quality in the public eye. This may make it hard for students to find jobs and pay pack student loans.
Students who are interested in taking courses online before transferring them to an accredited institution where they will finish their degree should be especially wary of online colleges that lack accreditation. If an online college lacks accreditation, course credits will probably not transfer to another college or university. This means that students may have to retake classes at the new school because the credits were unable to transfer.