Back to College: May 1, 2004

Ask the Experts: Accreditation Issues
Featured Expert: E. Faith Ivery, Ed.D.

Question: I am about to receive my Associates of Applied Science in Computer Aided Drafting, and I was looking into going to a state university for my bachelor's degree, but they will not accept my associate's degree. I was informed that they cannot accept credits from my school because they do not accept ACICS accreditation. I am told I would have to start all over again, and re-take all my gen-ed classes. Is there anything I can do or am I just out of luck? I know of no schools in my state that teach architecture that accept this type of accreditation (nationally recognized.) Please, if you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. - Mark

Answer: Mark - accreditation! I can’t tell you how many students have contacted my company – many in tears – with the same problem. I have called several proprietary schools and pretended to be a potential student. I ask about transfering credit, and accreditation. I find that most representatives of “nationally accredited” schools don't understand the difference between accrediting bureaus, ACICS and regional accreditation. So, often students enroll in these schools with little or no understanding of the differences. They pay lots of money, graduate, and then find out about “accreditation”.

The differences in accreditation has to do with the level of content, curriculum and agency of the accreditor. (See the Accreditation FAQ for more information.) The term “national” accreditation does not define a better or worse accreditation than “regional” accreditation. They are just different. It is important for the consumer to understand the differences before selecting a school. These proprietary schools are more “entry-level” in instruction, and more “skill” oriented than theory-based. They tend to quickly prepare students for employment. Their degrees are meant to be for more terminal learning. Years ago they were called vocational schools (or technical schools), and they issued diplomas or certificates. I have known of students who retained an attorney for recovery of tuition, because they were not properly advised about the accreditation.

Drafting and architecture are two very different careers. Regionally accredited colleges and universities consider architecture to be a professional school within the institution. Most often the admission requirements are higher than the general departments within the college or university. There are a few regionally accredited colleges and universities which accept direct credit from ACICS schools: the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, Capella University – but they do not offer architecture degrees. Some regionally accredited colleges/universities may allow you to validate equivalent learning through a portfolio process, and grant credit towards their bachelor degree. I know of no architecture program to do this. I would suggest taking as many CLEP exams as you can to “replace” your general education learning with college credit – ask the counselor at the regional college/university which exams to take. Other than that, you basically will need to start over at a regionally accredited college/university. You may want to use your learning to start a job with a company that has tuition assistance benefits to pay for your bachelor degree. My recommendation is to always earn an associate degree at a regionally accredited community college if you are planning to continue your education for a bachelor degree. Many of their courses are
accelerated, and cost much less than proprietary schools. Proper advising can assure you take courses which can directly be transferred to a 4-year program to earn the bachelor degree. - Faith

More Ask the Experts.

The first in-class essay exam I took when I returned to college was a disaster. I had done all the reading, TWICE; thought extensively about the material; and filled pages with notes from my own responses as well as from class. I couldn’t have been more prepared to discuss the novels we’d read. But I wasn’t at all prepared to write essays with time limits and no chance to revise. So what did I do? I took the questions as jumping-off points and wrote everything I could think of, had thought of, or might even consider. Every once in awhile I’d indent, so they at least would resemble essays with real paragraphs. There was no logic to anything I did; I just spewed. Not good. The professor commented (kindly, gently) that my ideas were superb and my insights quite inspired. However, not only were my answers not essays, they never really responded directly to the questions. Aargh!

After that, I learned to contain and direct my enthusiasms. Essay exams are not a license to babble. They require reflection and control. Here are some steps I created to help myself and, later on, to help my students.

1) First, read the question carefully. Pick out the salient points. What is the topic? A book, an event, an idea? What is the focus? A character? A problem? What are you being asked to do with this? Discuss? Contrast? Agree/Disagree?

This nifty new tool enables you to visit a Web site and "grasp, understand and assimilate" any text on the page. It also enables you to translate the text into another language. Simply input the URL of the Web site you desire to read and select "Pass this URL." A new page will appear with a toolbar encompassing it. You will then be able to doubleclick on any text appearing on the page and read its definition in the bottom toolbar.

In This Issue