Accreditation: What It Covers and What It Does Not
“Accredited program” can mean two different things. We record each one separately, from the official source, and never let one stand in for the other.
1. Institutional accreditation
The whole college or university is accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. It matters for federal financial aid, credit transfer and how employers and graduate schools treat a degree. Every school in this directory holds a current institutional accreditation recorded in the Department of Education's DAPIP database.
- HLC — Higher Learning Commission: 58 listed schools
- SACSCOC — Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges: 35 listed schools
- MSCHE — Middle States Commission on Higher Education: 23 listed schools
- NECHE — New England Commission of Higher Education: 16 listed schools
- NWCCU — Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities: 15 listed schools
- WSCUC — WASC Senior College and University Commission: 6 listed schools
- DEAC — Distance Education Accrediting Commission: 1 listed school
Accreditation by an agency recognized by the Department of Education is the basis for transfer of credit between most schools, but each receiving school decides what it accepts.
2. FEPAC program accreditation
The Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC), administered through the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, accredits individual forensic science programs. It does not cover criminal justice or criminology programs, and it does not cover every forensic program, level, concentration or campus.
We show FEPAC only when its own public list includes the exact program (43 listed programs so far). A program without FEPAC accreditation is not illegitimate, and FEPAC is not a requirement for being listed here.
Other things that are not accreditation
- A police academy or corrections academy certificate is training, not an academic degree, and it has its own approval by the state.
- State approval to operate or authorization to enroll residents of a state (for example through NC-SARA) is separate from accreditation; online programs publish it separately.
- Licensure — for example as a psychologist — depends on the licensing board, not on a program's accreditation status.