I’ve been researching online colleges , And its really confusing. Regionally accredited vs nationally accredited , programmatic accreditation vs institutional accreditation.I don’t want to fall for a scam or waste time and money. Does any one know which online school will be best for me. I live in NY.
FYI: “Institutional accreditation” is there only to ensure that the college and/or university is able to receive Title IV funding or student financial aid.
“Programmatic accreditation” ensures that the education you receive will be of the highest quality, meaning you’ll be learning from qualified instructors and not “facilitators,” you’ll be mastering both theory and practical skills i.e. real-world working skills, and your degree will land you a job in your field of study after you graduate.
frankly there is no online-only college that will be well respected in the job market. There have been widespread reports of students hiring impostors to take online courses for them. This means that ANY online course is considered questionable. The college has no way of knowing who is actually at the computer. It it the student, an impostor, or both?
Online-only colleges or for-profit colleges are often scams. See RipOffReport.com for some reviews. Avoid ANY online college or ANY for-profit college.
While online colleges have a terrible reputation, it is still possible to take some college courses that are “blended”. These allow you to do some studying online, but they require actual classroom attendance for orientation, testing, and lab work. A photo I.D. is required for entry to the classroom as a way to help prevent cheating by hiring an impostor.
No online program can be as good as the personal interaction of actual classroom attendance. Many colleges now even annotate transcripts or degrees to make sure employers know what classes were online, blended, or all actual classroom attendance.
As a former job recruiter, i can say that we would NEVER hire anyone from an online college or anyone from an for-profit college. Look for regional accreditation as well. We always did when hiring. National accreditation was NOT acceptable.