A Guide to Accreditation Bodies in The Us

The best place to get an education is in an accredited school or college. The term accreditation means a review of the quality of learning institutions and the programs that are offered in those institutions. Many of the learning institutions found in the US are fully accredited by bodies that are authorized to give accreditation to the deserving institutions. There are many such bodies in the US which offer accreditation to programs, schools, colleges and universities. These are also the institutions that offer accreditation to online learning institutions that are based in the US.

Accreditation bodies in the US can be private, non-governmental organizations, religious bodies as well as professional and specialized or programmatic accreditors. All these different kinds of accreditation bodies have to be recognized by the US Department of Education (USDE) or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). The latter is a non-governmental organization. Both of these organizations are tasked with overseeing and recognizing the accreditation bodies which offer accreditation to higher institutions of learning, that is, colleges and universities, together with all the programs that are offered in these institutions.

In the US, there are a total of six regional accreditors. This group of accreditors is responsible for accrediting elementary schools, high schools, junior high schools as well as middle schools. Their mandate also includes accrediting those private or public institutions of higher learning that are academic-based. There are also a total of 52 national accreditors all across the country. These accreditation bodies offer accreditation to learning institutions nationwide. The programs that are accredited by the national accreditors can be technical, career, or vocational oriented.  The institutions that are accredited by regional accreditors are not profit oriented. However those that are accredited by national accreditors are not necessarily non-profit oriented.

The accreditation bodies play a big role in quality assurance of the programs being offered in different institutions in the US. The institutions that have been fully accredited by bodies that are recognized by either CHEA or USDE can have their students access financial support offered by the federal government in terms of loans and grants.