Like many important life decisions “what you know can help you and what you don’t know can hurt you.” This statement is quite true when it comes to selecting a college or university.
One of the most important topics to investigate when seeking to earn a higher education degree is “what types of accreditation do I need and which colleges and universities can provide this?” Accreditation is a critical issue because it will often determine if the units associated with the academic courses you took (and passed) will actually transfer to another higher education institution, and will the degree you earned allow you to continue to the next academic level. Bottom line, there are different types of academic accreditations and not all are viewed equally.
If you are seeking to earn a college or university degree in California and you want your academic course work to be transferable, and possibly allow you to earn a higher degree, then you will likely want to attend a WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) accredited higher education institution. I’m glad to report that there are several WASC accredited colleges and universities within Southwest Riverside County.
You may be asking, what is academic accreditation? A valuable source for answering this question is the WASC website http://www.acswasc.org/. This resource describes academic accreditation as being a voluntary dual-purpose process that schools (1) must be worthy of the trust placed in them to provide high-quality learning opportunities and (2) clearly demonstrate continual self-improvement.
As a university administrator whose career has primarily involved working with the older adult student, ages 25 plus, I have heard stories from students who were formerly accepted into a college that identified as being “fully accredited.” These students successfully passed courses or earned a degree, but the courses and degree were not directly transferable to a California State, University of California, or an academic institution like Azusa Pacific University (APU). I saw, first hand, how not obtaining valid information regarding regional academic accreditation cost them additional time and money, plus added some level of discouragement.
For more information about earning a higher education degree, please visit www.apu.edu/murrieta. For the past 30 years, APU Murrieta has been part of the larger Southwest Riverside County area and we are proud of our many graduates!