# Accreditation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accreditation/185757>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accreditation/185757 "2003-07-02T12:41:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accreditation/185757/1 "2003-07-02T12:41:27Z")

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I am looking at taking some college courses online. There are some schools I am not familiar with because they are so far away. Of course I want to check their accreditation.

But I don’t know what to look for.

What are the generally recognized and approved accrediting bodies for colleges and unversities?

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**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accreditation/185757/2 "2003-07-02T12:54:53Z")

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It depends on the school, but here is the accrediting agency that my college used:

[http://www.ncacihe.org/](http://www.ncacihe.org/)

hope this helps.

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**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accreditation/185757/3 "2003-07-02T13:04:35Z")

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The big’uns are:

SACS ([www.sacs.org](http://www.sacs.org))  
WACS ([www.wacsweb.org](http://www.wacsweb.org))  
NASCU ([www.nascu.org](http://www.nascu.org))  
NEASC ([www.neasc.org](http://www.neasc.org))  
MSACS (?) and  
NCAACS (www.nca.asu.edu)

These six are the major regional accrediting agencies.