Why is accreditation important?  Anyone can look all over this web site and many others and find the reasons why finding an accredited school is so very important.  Another aspect of finding the right online school for you is your ability to decide if you are going to get what you pay for, or is the representative from that institution just a salesperson looking to get you hooked.

About four years ago when I was looking for the right school for me, I turned some of them down because I thought they were looking out for my money more than my education.  The people I spoke to were full of promises, but short on delivery.  If I were to believe everything I was told, I could have completed my four year degree (with no prior credits) in about two years.  I know better, and made decisions based on my ability to filter through the sales pitch.

Some schools will tell you anything to get you on the hook.  There have been some well-documented situations with schools misleading potential students, putting their academic advising team on a commission-based pay structure, and other things that are simply unethical.  Furthermore, they are greatly misleading to the person who is new to online education and needs all the facts before making a decision.  

One thing I liked about Kaplan is that there was no pressure when I called them about four years ago.  I was given the facts, they offered every ounce of help they could, and I was never pressured to make a decision.  This was a major factor when deciding where to go to school.  The fact that the people on the other end of the phone seemed like they had no hidden agenda clearly set them apart from some of the other schools I inquired about.  

The moral of this story:  Four graduates of ITT Technical Institute filed a lawsuit this week alleging that recruiters lied when they said students could transfer ITT credits to four-year universities.

Because I have done so much research into the topics of accreditation, transfer credits, and all the issues surrounding these often-discussed concerns, I am completely aware that ITT is not accredited by an agency that might allow a more fluid transfer of credits to a four-year university.  They are certainly not accredited by one of the regional agencies.  ITT is a school that focuses on job skills training for the most part.  Had these students done their homework (so to speak), they might have known this as well.  A better understanding of what ITT really is and how they compare to a real university would have answered a lot of questions.  Furthermore, they might not have been sucked into the sales pitch that promised the world, and delivered nothing more than disappointment.

I believe that with the massive growth of online education by schools like Kaplan, Walden, and even some of the traditional brick and mortar institutions like the University of Dallas, Arizona State and others, ITT is struggling to grab market share from the more “legitimate” and accredited schools.  When an educational institution of any type resorts to lying to the prospective students about what they can and can’t do, they have discredited their reputation and lessened the legitimacy of that institution.