I post not to criticize this school (I know nothing about it and have never heard of it), or its DETC affiliation.
DETC has achieved some measure of recognition, but it is still not a generally accepted “regional accreditation agency” for college credit purposes.
These credits are often not accepted by regionally-accredited colleges (for transfer, for further degrees).
Distance education can serve a valid purpose, especially for somebody who is required to travel a lot or maybe has a disability that makes it difficult to attend a regular college. And, some distance education programs (accredited or not) can be quite good quality.
There are many distance ed programs that are also fully accredited (by a recognized ‘regional accreditation agency’ in USA, or as recognized depending on country the college is located, such as UK does it slightly differently but it is easy there to find out the ligitimate, recognized colleges).
I do not know about this school, whether it has high or low quality instructional programs. But I would definitely recommend a prospective student check further whether its programs and its DETC accreditation will best serve the student’s best interests and future study and/or employment plans... before signing up.
Note also that all states have public community colleges, most with very low fees (and usually with either a generous fee waiver program or grants or scholarships for anyone who can’t afford the low fees). Most public community colleges are fully “regionally accredited” so that most regular coursework there will usually transfer to other colleges and universities. (Many community colleges will not accept DETC coursework for transfer INTO the community college, however.)
Note also that many employers do not recognize unaccredited college work, while some give it some weight but still discount it in the hiring and promotional processes. Having a discounted credential is not the best strategy for most people, especially in a bad economy like at present.
Some employers will give a DETC program graduate some weight, others will not.
A student is almost always better off taking a fully regionally-accredited course of studies, whether in person on a regular campus or, if necessary, via distance ed.
Happy day,
fhc
ps: here are the generally-recognized “regional accreditation agencies” and the states each serves, fyi:
http://www.chea.org/Directories/regional.asp
All I am saying is, if a student has a choice between a regionally-accredited course of studies and DETC, s/he is normally better off taking the regionally-accredited program. If a student’s only choices are between DETC and nothing, take the DETC (but don’t expect full weight when later trying to transfer the coursework to universities or colleges, and don’t expect full weight either when applying for many jobs, though some employers will honor DETC credentials especially for certain trades that generally do not have regionally-accredited programs on offer).
All the best,
fhc
Good information.
If you accessed my article at
you will see a video that includes Yale as one of the sites that are associated with this online university.
I haven’t checked this out as yet as the announcement that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education was only that it had received accreditation.