No, I’m just kidding. This has never happened to me or nayone I know or even read about.
But, I have occasionally read about a college or university losing its accreditation. I’ve sometimes wondered what a student’s degree would be worth if they’d graduated from that school while it had full accreditation and then, years later, Bam! their school is no longer on the list of accredited institutions.
I’d imagine it would be tough to explain in an interview for a new job; would it cause trouble for someone already employed when their alma mater lost accreditation?
Just wondering what the ramifications would be. Mods, if this is better suited for IMHO, please relocate it with my apologies.
I would assume that the same resource that lists whether something is currently accredited would also list dates of past accreditation. If you listed the date that you graduated, then it would be a relatively simple matter to check and see if the institution was accredited at that time.
ETA: I suppose the overall impact would depend on why the institution lost the accreditation. If they lost it because the program was ended, that would be one thing; if they lost it because the program always sucked, and they just got found out on so-and-so date, then. . .well, that could affect the potential employers perception.
The loss of accreditation is not retroactive; if you got the degree before the school loses it, it still counts. If asked in an interview, you would say, “It was accredited at the time I graduated.”
On the other side, the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering started up a few years ago without accreditation. Students were given their education for free if they enrolled, sort of a payment for the risk they may not graduate from an accredited institution,
I know some people with degrees from schools that no longer exist. My own alma mater was dropped down to provisional accreditation for a couple of years then reinstated (it had something to do with outgrowing its library/research facilities; after they expanded the library it was reaccredited.)
Basically, if your school is accredited at the time you graduate, then you graduated from an accredited institution. Period. And “years later” you’ll be evaluated on much more than just where you got your degree.
I have a postgrad degree from a fellowship at a medical college that no longer exists (it got folded into another institution).
All benefits and “perks” still apply. Though on one of the doctor ratings sites they apparently got confused when trying to rate my training institutions and just left that one out entirely.
I think it’s better to have a degree from a legitimate institution that folded or combined with another, compared to a mail-order degree from the North Central Idaho School of Naturopathic Whoopee.
In addition, in some fields, it is not unusual for only one particular degree within a program to be accredited. For example, in engineering programs, typically the B.S. degree will be accredited (such as by ABET), but rarely will the upper level degrees be accredited (such as the M.S. and Ph.D.).
Finally, it is not unusual, even for well-established, accredited universities, to have new degree programs that are not yet accredited.
