regional accreditation vs national accreditation

Regional Accreditation vs National Accreditation

When you apply to colleges, you will find that the college or school declares their accreditation. They will either say they have a National Accreditation (NAAC) or they will declare themselves to have a Regional Accreditation (RAAC). But what does it mean for a university, college or school to be accredited? In the debate of regionally accredited vs nationally accredited, who wins?

What is the Difference Between Regional Accreditation vs National Accreditation?

Accreditation is simply a body of respected peers coming together to certify or recognize that a certain institution meets the required standards of quality. Accreditation is not limited to educational institutions. But in the United States, when somebody refers to NAAC or RAAC, they are referring to the accreditation status of an educational institution. There are two scopes for accreditation — institutional or program based. Either the entire university is accredited or specific programs or schools within a university receive the accreditation. To make things simpler and to explain what each of these accreditation statuses mean, the following article will act as a guide to the regionally accredited vs nationally accredited question:

Regional Accreditation

Regional Accreditation is the type of accreditation most institutions in America have. As the name suggests, the ‘regional’ tag of the accreditation means that regional accreditation organizations are devoted to specific areas and each area has its own accreditation body. Regionally accredited institutions are mostly academic institutions that work as a non-profit or are state-owned. The body is concerned with accrediting schools that are academically focused and not necessarily professional schools or schools that offer technical or career-specific skills. There are six different regional accreditation bodies operating within the United States. The following are the names of these bodies and the regions they operate in:


National Accreditation

regionally accredited vs nationally accreditedNational accreditation, as the name suggests, is a nationwide recognition given to a school. National accreditors typically look at the technical or career-based institutions. These are usually private schools that are for profit. National accreditors, depending on which body you speak to, can provide either institutional accreditation or specialized accreditation, or sometimes even both. Some of the important agencies include the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, which provides institutional accreditation; American Academy for Liberal Education, which provides institutional as well as program-based accreditation.
While regional accreditors typically only provide institutional accreditation, national accreditors can also provide specialized accreditation. If you are looking to study a specific program, for example, psychology, it also matters whether the specific course in that college is held up to high standards. You may be concerned about whether the course of your choice is accredited.


Which One Should You Choose?

Now, the big question is, if you are looking at colleges, which accreditation should you pick? All accreditation agencies are recognized by the US Department of Education. An agency that is not recognized by the department does not meet the requirement for being able to analyze and certify institutions and programs. So, if your concern is about which is a superior accreditation, both are held to equally high standards.

Now, as has been mentioned above, even if the college is regionally accredited, you may want the specific course you are looking at to also have some kind of accreditation so you know it is the absolute best of the best. But the big difference between regional and national accreditation is that while most colleges are regionally accredited, should you wish to transfer credits from a nationally accredited college to a regionally accredited one, you cannot do so.

Credits can only be transferred between regionally accredited schools, so if you want to shift schools or carry your credits forward for higher education, you need to make sure both your previous school and the new one you wish to go to are regionally accredited. As a student, you would know the value of even a single credit. Most Master’s degrees require you to complete 60 credit hours. But if you could transfer even 15 credits from your previous school, that would take a lot of the pressure off. For this reason alone, looking for a college that is regionally accredited may be wise as it opens your options up for further education.

If the specific course you are looking for also happens to have accreditation, that is a double whammy for you!


Final Thoughts

If you are looking at schools and cannot figure out whether it is accredited or which accreditation it has, you can simply go to the US Department of Education official website and search through the database. The department is legally required to maintain details of each institution or program that is accredited by its recognized agencies. With these details in mind, it should become easier for you to make a choice.

Sure, there is no hard and fast rule. But if you do need to pick a school, one which is regionally accredited is safer as you would have the privilege of transferring your credits should the need arise. A college education is a stressful and often expensive affair. The time you spend in college cannot be taken for granted and the pressure is often debilitatingly high. But if there is a chance you can assuage the pressure by transferring credits instead of starting from scratch, that is a privilege worth fighting for.