ASSOCIATED PRESS: WASHINGTON
What is the difference between a high school diploma and a medical degree? About $3.2 million, says the Census Bureau.
It is well known that educational credentials are directly proportional to one’s income.
Oh, I understand that there are thousands of people with doctorate degrees teaching at high schools, working at mills, or pastoring small churches. Many people with master’s degrees are doing menial office tasks, work in children’s ministries, and even more people with bachelor’s degrees are waiting on tables, and asking, “Do you want fries with your order?”
While there are exceptions, generally people with higher degrees earn more money. Therefore, many are searching in the advertisements sections of magazines for school ads and many are surfing the Internet in search for a degree through distance learning methods so that they can “go to school” and stay home and continue with their careers and ministries. However, not all of those schools are good, legitimate schools.
Some Caveats
There are some generalizations that continue to misinform people about higher education and what’s available. One sweeping generalization is that schools that are accredited are good and those that are not accredited are bad. This is simply not correct. First, some schools that claim to be “accredited” are very bad schools, and some unaccredited schools are very good schools.
In fact, all accredited schools were at sometime in their history unaccredited. No school starts out accredited. And, some very good, legitimate, and academically astute schools simply do not seek accreditation because of the innovative or experimental nature of their programs and delivery systems.
So, there are some not-so-terrific accredited schools (especially for Christians who believe the Bible) and there are a few (very few) good unaccredited schools. And everyone who is going to earn a degree through distance learning needs to take the time to investigate what’s out there in academia.
Bad Accreditation?
On the other hand, however, there are many substandard schools that are in fact legal in the U.S. They lack legitimate academic rigor and faculty qualifications. Often these substandard schools seek “accreditation” from unrecognized accreditors. And too often people with solid bachelor’s degrees or solid master’s degrees damage their academic resume beyond repair by earning their next higher degree from a substandard, distance-learning school.
The Real Issue
The issue for many people today should not simply be “Is the school accredited?” but will a degree from this school, accredited or not, be acceptable to the “gate keepers” of the career or ministry I wish to pursue.
If one needs a degree from a truly accredited school, one should be very careful to investigate the schools under review. Today, many substandard schools (and even many diploma mills) claim to be accredited. And, the scary thing is that they might in fact be accredited; however, you must ask, “Accredited by whom?”
U.S. Department of Education Recognition
In America, there are no laws governing the establishing of accrediting agencies. Over the years, I have collected a list of dozens of fake or substandard accrediting agencies, most are legal under U.S. law, but they are not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. And, that’s the key to real accreditation.
Anyone can start an “accrediting agency” but only serious, academic accrediting agencies are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. So, when a school claims to be accredited, it might be. But, is their “accreditor” itself recognized by the U.S. Department of Education? If not, then the so-called accreditation, legal as it might be, is an academic sham.
Then there are some very bad schools that have a new way to mislead people about the issue of accreditation. What amazes me is that the wording they use is quite similar. It’s like they had a “Very Bad Schools Convention” where they all agreed to use the same misleading wording. It goes something like this:
Is Accreditation Necessary?
If you are studying to become something other than a minister, for instance to become a professional in a secular field, you need to make sure that the school you are going to study with is accredited by a regional (or national) accrediting association that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. In secular education, this type of accreditation is essential.
However, if you are seeking an education for the Gospel Ministry or a related field with Christian ministry, secular accreditation is not required. All Christian Churches accept quality Christian education regardless of which accrediting group (if any) a school is with.
I hope you can see the various fallacies of the statement above. First, there are some secular areas that one might study and not need it to be from an accredited school. I know an auto mechanic who went to a non-accredited auto-mechanic school, and now he has his own very successful auto shop. I know another man who studied mechanical drawing at a non-accredited school, and he has been working in his field ever since. The "Pie Lady" in town who has her own pie shop never attended an accredited school for pie making. I have known college professors at secular schools teaching secular subjects (history and music) who earned their Ph.D. degrees from unaccredited schools. They were both promoted due to their Ph.D. degrees and each of them received a raise in their salary. So, the statement that, “In secular education, this type of accreditation is essential” is simply not true.
Next, note that the statement above not-so-subtly slips in the word “secular” with regard to Christian education: “However, if you are seeking an education for the Gospel Ministry or a related field with Christian ministry, secular accreditation is not required.”
Secular accreditation? Yes, there is such a thing. But what they don’t tell you is that there is also such a thing as Christian accreditation that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. So, please, please, please, understand that when these (less-than-terrific) schools tell you that there is only one kind of accreditation and that is “secular” accreditation, it is simply meant to mislead you into thinking that the reason why they are not accredited is because they are not going to allow the big bad government to tell them what to do; so, they refuse “secular accreditation.” What they don’t tell you is that there are good, solid Christian accrediting associations.
Next, their last line is simply laughable. They state: “All Christian Churches accept quality Christian education regardless of which accrediting group (if any) a school is with.”
Man, this one is loaded with error and misrepresentation. I’ll try to keep it simple:
First, not all Christian Churches accept quality Christian education from non-accredited schools. In fact, some Christian Churches demand that their ministers attend their denominational schools which are regionally accredited (the accreditor is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education).
Next, notice that their statement says, “. . . regardless of which accrediting group (if any) a school is with.” This “regardless of which accrediting group” swings open the door to those dozens of bogus accreditors that are not only not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, but they are condemned by real schools and real accreditors as being false or bogus accreditors.
Again, remember what I said above, if one needs a degree from a truly accredited school, one should be very careful to investigate the schools under review. Today, many substandard schools (and even many diploma mills) are accredited by bogus accreditors (i.e., they are not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education). So, if a school claims to be accredited, you must ask, “Accredited by whom?” And that accreditor must be duly recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, or else the so-called accreditation is a sham.
So Is Accreditation Necessary?
It’s really as simple as this: It depends on the degree itself and on the reasons for wanting it.
For instance, if you are seeking a job promotion or a salary increase, and your employer says that any bachelor’s degree, accredited or not, will garner you a promotion or a salary increase (yes, some say this), then the unaccredited bachelor’s degree through a legitimate school earned 100% off campus is exactly as good as a bachelor’s degree earned by sitting in classrooms for four to six years at an accredited school. Add to that the fact that tuition at unaccredited schools is far less than at accredited schools. Also, one can more easily continue earning a living while pursuing the distance learning degree because of the inherent flexibility, and there are no moving costs or major family disruptions.
As another example, a nonresident doctorate earned through one of the better unaccredited, legitimate colleges may be of minimal value in getting a faculty position at Harvard University. But such degrees have proved useful in many cases for advancement in business, counseling, government, industry, and ministry.
Unaccredited vs. Credible
However, and please make this distinction, even if you do not need a degree from an accredited school, you always need your degree from a credible school; and schools that lie and mislead prospective students about the issue of accreditation are simply not credible schools.
So, Is A Degree a Good Investment? It can be as long as you don't earn one from a questionable school that misleads people about the issue of accreditation, or their faculty's credentials, or a whole host of other things.
Also, even with legitimate schools, a degree may be worth the investment as long as you don't spend more earning it than you will ever get back through the employment that opens up to you because of it. There are many people who spend $50,000 to more than $100,000 for their degrees. Too often the typical minister makes less than $30,000 per year. I know one minister who makes about $14,000 per years (and this is 2005). So, he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from CES and paid a fraction of the cost that he would have paid at an accredited school. So, an unaccredited degree can be a good investment as long as the school is credible and does not mislead prospective students about important academic issues.
Many employers and churches hire people with unaccredited degrees. Some refuse to hire them. The most enlightened employers consider each applicant on his (or her) own merits and education, and they check on the credibility of the school rather than simply look for “a stamp of accreditation” that may or may not even be legitimate.
