Nowadays, there are numerous opportunities to take online courses and earn a degree from an accredited university. However, you might consider enrolling at one of the many schools available online, offering courses for academic credit. The critical aspect is that you choose an accredited college, so your credits will be accepted if you plan to transfer them later. Since not every school has the same standards as far as accreditation goes, it’s up to you to investigate if a certain diploma program is worth your time and money. Here are five critical tips that will help you to figure out which college is right for you:
1) The name of the institution and its URL
The first place to check is on the homepage. Check out the website, and if you see a high-quality site, it may be an accredited institution. However, if you’re surfing through a dodgy website with low-quality formatting and structure, then it’s probably not an accredited university offering legitimate degrees. Also, ensure that they allow applications from students who are currently enrolled in high school or college.
2) Look for “Accredited” symbols
There should be some symbol that tells you that the institution is accredited. You’ll find it right on their homepage or on their accreditation information page on most accredited institutions. The difference between an official seal and other symbols is that a governing authority recognizes your school as legitimate. If there’s no such shield, then it’s probably not an accredited educational institution. If they have one, make sure to check the details to see which organization awarded them accreditation. Also, Grand Canyon University accreditation professionals advocates that you look at when these seals were awarded; if there are multiple seals from different years, they may not be stable enough in terms of accreditation to be considered legitimate.
3) Look at their ranking in independent listings
If an institution is accredited, you will probably see it pop up on various legitimate sites that rank educational institutions worldwide. These rankings will be listed both nationally and globally (at least for well-known schools), so look for these kinds of lists to make sure that they’re listed there before considering them as an accreditor. According to Grand Canyon University accreditation, if you find your school in any one of these lists, then at least you can consider them accredited until proven otherwise. You should also check out information that the listing site provides about the institution. If it is a small paragraph with no ratings or statistics, then it’s probably not a legitimate listing site.
4) Look for information about their accreditor
There should be some section (or link) dedicated to providing information about the school’s accrediting body. If it doesn’t look like they care enough to tell you anything about who they’re accredited by and why they’re most likely illegitimate. However, if it seems like they’re committed to providing this information and put in the effort and time needed to provide comprehensive insight into accreditation matters, the educational institution might be legitimate.
