The Western Association of Schools and Colleges was an organization providing accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern Marianas Islands, in addition to the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Pacific Rim, Peru, Czech Republic, Armenia, and East Asia.
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performs peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atlantic United States and certain foreign institutions of American origin. It comprised three separate commissions:
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and private educational institutions ranging from preschool to college level in the Southern United States. Its headquarters are in North Druid Hills, Georgia, near Decatur, in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It was one of six regional accreditation bodies in the U.S. and its Higher Learning Commission was recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as a regional accreditor for higher education institutions.
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is a non-profit education corporation that was recognized by the United States Department of Education as an independent and autonomous Higher education accrediting body until 2022. ACICS was also recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) until 2017.
The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. is a United States' regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation. NEASC serves over 1500 public, independent schools, and technical/career institutions in the six New England states, the United States, plus international schools in more than 90 nations worldwide. Its headquarters is in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education since 1952 as an institutional accreditor for colleges and universities.
Western New England University is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The headquarters of the organization is in Chicago, Illinois.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order to certify the quality of higher education accrediting organizations, including regional, faith-based, private, career, and programmatic accrediting organizations.
Madison University is a non-accredited distance learning college located in Gulfport, Mississippi. The state of Mississippi considers Madison an "unapproved" college. Madison is also listed as an unaccredited and/or substandard institution by four other U.S. states. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Madison University has been referred to as a diploma mill by the state of Oregon.
Bay State College was a private for-profit college in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1946 and was accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, after several years of financial challenges and claims of fraud, the accreditor began to issue formal warnings and demand further information from the college; it closed two years later.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in the United States and foreign higher education institutions. Until federal regulations changed on July 1, 2020, it was considered one of the seven regional accreditation organizations dating back 130 years. MSCHE, which is now an institutional accreditor, is recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Higher education accreditation in the United States is a peer review process by which the validity of degrees and credits awarded by higher education institutions is assured. It is coordinated by accreditation commissions made up of member institutions. It was first undertaken in the late 19th century by cooperating educational institutions, on a regional basis.
Educational accreditation is a quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated and verified by an external body to determine whether applicable and recognized standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the appropriate agency.
Pre-tertiary-education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process used in the United States under which services and operations of pre-tertiary schools and educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met.
