Unrecognized, Fake and Dubious Online College Accrediting Agencies

As mentioned in earlier blogs by Employment Screening Resources (ESR), diploma mills and degree mills have created fake accreditation agencies to try to make fake degrees legitimate. According to one source, the following represents a listing of 30- plus agencies that employers may want to look at in more detail. This list is reprinted with the kind permission of http://www.geteducated.com which is responsible for its content:

Here is a list of 30-plus agencies that claim to accredit a variety of online and distance learning college degree programs.

NONE of these accrediting agencies are recognized as college accreditors in the U.S. by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation or the U.S. Department of Education. As such, colleges claiming ‘accreditation’ by these agencies are not widely accepted as valid providers of higher education online and should be approached with great caution if online college credibility is important to you.

• Accreditation Council for Distance Education (ACTDE)
• Accreditation Panel for Online Colleges and Universities (APTEC)
• Accrediting Commission International (ACI)
• American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions
• American Council of Private Colleges and Universities
• American Association of Drugless Practitioners (ADP)
• Association of Accredited Bible Schools
• Association of Distance Learning Programs (ADLP)
• Association of Private Colleges and Universities
• Association for Online Academic Accreditation
• Association for Online Excellence
• Association for Online Academic Excellence
• Board of Online Universities Accreditation (BOUA)
• Council for Distance Education
• Council of Online Higher Education
• Central States Consortium of Colleges & Schools
• International Commission for Higher Education
• International Accreditation Agency for Online Universities (IAAOU)
• International Accreditation Association for Online Education (IAAFOE)
• International Accreditation Organization (IAO)
• International Education Ministry Accreditation Association
• International Online Education Accrediting Board (IOEAB)
• National Academy of Higher Education
• National Board of Education (NBOE)
• National College Accreditation Council
• National Commission of Accredited Schools
• National Distance Learning Accreditation Council (NDLAC)
• New Millenium Accrediting Partnership for Educators Worldwide
• Organization for Online Learning Accreditation (OKOLA)
• Transworld Accrediting Commission Intl. (TAC)
• Universal Council for Online Education Accreditation (UCOEA)
• United Nations Council
• United States Distance Education & Training Council of Nevada (NOTE: A similarly titled agency, the Distance Education & Training Council (DETC), of Washington, D.C. – http://www.detc.org – is a VALID and RECOGNIZED online learning accreditation agency)
• World Association for Online Education
• World Association of Universities and Colleges (WAUC)
• World Online Education Accrediting Commission (WOEAC)
• World-Wide Accreditation Commission of Christian Educational Institutions (WWAC) 

Source: GetEducated.com, a consumer advocacy group that reviews, rates
and ranks screened, accredited online universities: 
http://www.geteducated.com/online-degrees-credibility-employer-perception/204-unrecognized-fake-and-dubious-online-college-accrediting-agencies/

More information on this topic is available at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unrecognized_accreditation_associations_of_higher_learning