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Home > Diploma "Mills" and Accreditation "Mills" > What is Accreditation?

Updated 05/05/05

What is Accreditation?

Accreditation is a formal status granted to an institution meeting or exceeding stated educational quality criteria. The purposes of accreditation are to assess and enhance the educational quality of an institution, assure consistency in institutional operations, promote institutional improvement and provide for public accountability.

Accreditation serves these purposes:

  • Measuring the quality of education and training offered by an institution or organization.
  • Identifying areas for institutional self-improvement.
  • Helping students select quality education providers.
  • Providing for a tested, peer-reviewed oversight process.
  • Offering the distinction of enhanced status attained by institutions through their commitment to a quality-oriented, rigorous, third-party evaluation of educational practices and outcomes.
  • Promoting qualitative standards, policies and procedures leading to institutional effectiveness.

The U.S. Secretary of Education authorizes certain accrediting agencies to serve as reliable authorities as to the quality of educational institutions for purposes of determining their eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.*

To learn more about institutional and programmatic accreditation, click these links:

For More information on Diploma Mills:

* Source: Council of Recognized National Accrediting Agencies (CRNAA) http://www.crnaa.org/