Can anyone please tell me if American Intercontinental University is fully accredited ?

and

How does the medical field (specifically the mental health field) regard online degress ?

American InterContinental University is indeed, fully accredited. They are regionally accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Associate, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees.

The more important factor when it comes to selecting a program is whether or not it is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).

CACREP accreditation is important for the following reasons:

1) You will need to graduate from a CACREP accredited program in order to seek national counselor certification, and

2) You will need to graduate from a CACREP accredited program in order to obtain
state licensure. Currently, counselors are licensed at the state-level, therefore, the state  license is the credential needed for independent practice.  

Capella Unversity offers CACREP accredited programs - check them out http://www.elearners.com/college/cu/

Good luck to you! 

 

You seem to be informed. Could you tell me if a degree from an unaccredited online University can be used as a designation after your name legally?

No. It is misleading, unethical and, in some states, considered fraud, and is, therefore, illegal!

AIU is regionally accredited by SACS I do believe, but I recently ran across information where they may be on probabtion.  Do a GOOGLE search using CAREER EDUCATION CORP and read the entries.

 

That's true. AIU's next review is scheduled to take place next month in December. At that time the commission will either take AIU off probation, continue its probation or remove its accreditation.

 

They are still on probation, they were just reviewed.

 

Last Tuesday, December 12th, the Career Education Corporation, which owns and controls operations of AIU, hosted a conference call with the CEO and CFO of Career Ed and the acting CEO for AIU.

Management commented that they have made tremendous progress, and that they will continue to be on probation until December 2007. At that time, they will receive another review from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). They are still an accredited institution, and fully anticipate that the probation will be lifted at this time next year.

Yes, AIU is accredited but is currently on probation for not meeting the accredation standards. It was on probabion last year, was reevaluated in December and the accredidation board has kept AIU on probation in hopes that AIU will begin to comply with their demands. If AIU does not comply by this time next year, they will lose their accredidation.

"Fully Accredited" is a misnomer, and I think the question has been answered already, but here is a quick overview of US accreditation.  (Published in The Internal Auditor Magazine orignally)

The Importance of Accreditation

With thousands of colleges and universities offering degrees, it can be difficult to tell an accredited school from a questionable one. As a starting point, it is important to understand the basics of accreditation.

Accreditation is a review process performed by impartial experts who evaluate criteria reflecting the qualities of a sound educational institution or program. Accreditation should not be confused with an institution’s prestige, which is the public perception of quality.

In the United States, The Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) oversee agencies that perform institutional or program reviews and confer accreditation (see “Accreditation Resources” on page xx). Accreditation can be conferred at the institutional or program-specific level and can be issued on a regional, professional, or national basis. 

            Regional institutional accreditation is an institution wide accreditation conferred by six regional accrediting organizations, based on the home state of the university.  The agencies are made up of a consortium of member colleges. Regional accreditation is considered the “gold standard” in U.S. education and provide the highest level of assurance. .

Professional, or specialized, accreditation is conferred by professional organizations in program-specific areas such as nursing, nuclear medicine, and law. Graduation from a professionally accredited program may be required for licensure in a specific field. Therefore, a degree from a professionally accredited program at a regionally accredited university provides a high level of assurance to employers about a person’s qualifications.  .

National institutional accreditation is a school wide accreditation conferred by organizations such as the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). Although DETC and ACICS are valid national accreditations, their acceptance is not as universal as regional institutional accreditation and may represent a small risk.

 Online Adjunct Group

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Online_Adjuncts/

 

Every day, if you watch closely, people are terminated or disciplined for this.  A bad unaccredited degree like a Kennedy Western one might be fine at the low levels of employment, but theminute your bio is posted in the paper, you are quickly found out.

And, if your employment or reputation aren't enough to convince you not to use degrees from non-accredited schools on your resume...as Helenh pointed out, it's illegal in some states.  You can get prosecuted and if found guilty, you can be fined or even sentenced to jail time.  I know it's illegal in Oregon, New Jersey, North Dakota and Washington State; I know some other states have passed laws, too. 

I don't think that AIU is going to be a problem in the long run...just wanted to point this out.
 

Hello,

 I recently applied with AIU and have gotten good contact and information from the school. Though, I was never told they were on probation until I found out on SACS site.

 

Is there anyone on this message board with any personal experience with this school? I'm very nervous about going back to school, as it's been 6 years since I've stepped foot in a classroom. I just want to hear what others have to say about this school.
 

Ok, so I am reading some things now about AIU that sound very scary.  I am worried that I might have done the wrong thing, even talking to this school. I really need some help.