Accreditation
How to Check if a School Is Accredited
Accreditation determines whether a degree is recognized by employers, graduate schools, and licensing boards. Here is how to verify a school's accreditation status in under five minutes — and how to spot fake accreditation claims.
Key takeaway
Any accredited school in the United States appears in one of two official databases: the US Department of Education's College Navigator or the CHEA directory. If a school does not appear in either, its accreditation is either unrecognized, fake, or nonexistent — and any degree it awards will not be accepted by most employers or graduate programs.
Why accreditation status matters
Accreditation is the process by which an independent body evaluates a school's academic standards, faculty qualifications, and institutional integrity. In the US, accreditation determines federal financial aid eligibility, credit transfer acceptance, graduate school admissions, and professional license eligibility.
A degree from an unaccredited school is not inherently worthless — but it is widely treated as such. Most employers conducting background checks will flag an unaccredited institution. Graduate programs almost universally require undergraduate degrees from accredited institutions. State licensing boards for professions like medicine, law, nursing, and engineering typically refuse to accept degrees from unaccredited schools.
For HR teams and admissions officers, verifying accreditation is the first line of defense against diploma mill credentials. Diploma mills routinely claim accreditation from unrecognized or self-created bodies to appear legitimate.
Types of accreditation in the US
Not all accreditation is equal. Understanding the distinction helps you evaluate whether a school's accreditation is meaningful or a red flag.
Regional accreditation
The most rigorous and widely recognized form of US accreditation. Seven regional bodies (such as HLC, SACSCOC, NECHE, and WSCUC) cover all geographic areas of the country. Regional accreditation is required for federal financial aid eligibility and is the standard recognized by most graduate programs and employers. Most traditional colleges and universities hold regional accreditation.
National accreditation
A separate, historically less-rigorous accreditation track used primarily by for-profit and vocational schools. Nationally accredited degrees are often not accepted as transfer credit by regionally accredited institutions. This distinction matters when verifying degrees: a nationally accredited school is not a diploma mill, but its credentials carry less weight than a regionally accredited school.
Programmatic accreditation
Accreditation of a specific department or program within a school, issued by a professional body (e.g., AACSB for business schools, LCME for medical schools, ABA for law schools). A school may hold regional accreditation while a specific program carries additional programmatic accreditation. For licensed professions, programmatic accreditation is often the relevant credential to verify.
Unrecognized or fake accreditation
Some schools claim accreditation from organizations that are not recognized by the US Department of Education or CHEA. These bodies are often created by the schools themselves or by related parties. A school claiming accreditation from an unrecognized body should be treated the same as an unaccredited school. See the red flags section below for how to identify these cases.
How to check a school's accreditation: step by step
Search the US Department of Education database
The Department of Education's College Navigator and its underlying Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) are the authoritative sources for US accreditation. Search by institution name. If a school is accredited by a recognized body, it will appear here along with its accrediting organization, accreditation type, and status.
Unaccredited schools will not appear. Schools with lapsed or revoked accreditation may appear with a terminated status — both are red flags.
Cross-check with CHEA
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is an independent organization that recognizes accrediting bodies. CHEA's database covers both institutions and accrediting organizations. It is particularly useful for verifying whether the accrediting body a school claims is itself recognized — a step the DoE database makes less obvious.
Use CHEA when a school cites an unfamiliar accreditor. Search the accreditor's name directly in CHEA's database. If it does not appear, the accreditation claim is not legitimate.
For international schools, check the home country's official registry
Accreditation for international institutions is managed at the country level. Most countries maintain a government ministry of education that publishes an official list of recognized institutions. Look for the ministry's registry — not third-party directories, which may include unrecognized schools.
For credential evaluation of international degrees in the US context, agencies like WES (World Education Services) or ECE can assess whether a foreign credential is equivalent to a US degree from an accredited institution.
Check the school against diploma mill lists
A school may not appear in accreditation databases because it is a known diploma mill. Multiple maintained lists track identified diploma mills, including databases compiled by state licensing boards, advocacy organizations, and credentialing authorities.
VerifyED's database cross-references 912,000+ legitimate institutions against 2,500+ identified diploma mills. A single lookup confirms whether a school is recognized and flags it if it appears on any diploma mill list.
5 red flags for fake or unrecognized accreditation
Diploma mills frequently claim accreditation to appear legitimate. These patterns appear consistently across fraudulent accreditation claims.
The accrediting body is not in the DoE or CHEA databases
This is the most common pattern. Search the accreditor's name in both the DoE DAPIP database and CHEA's recognized accreditors list. If it appears in neither, it is not a recognized accreditation body — regardless of how official its name sounds.
The accrediting body has a similar name to a real one
Fraudulent accreditors often use names that sound like established bodies. 'Accreditation Council for Online Education' or 'National Association for Accreditation of Schools' are not real accreditors. Always verify the exact name in official databases rather than relying on name recognition.
The school and its accreditor share an address or corporate parent
Some diploma mills create their own accreditation bodies to self-accredit. A WHOIS lookup on both domains or a business registry search can reveal whether a school and its claimed accreditor are connected entities. This is an immediate disqualifier.
Accreditation was granted in less than a year
Legitimate accreditation is a multi-year process involving site visits, documentation reviews, and ongoing reporting. A school claiming full accreditation within months of opening is a major red flag. Check the accreditation start date in the DoE database against the school's founding date.
The school claims international accreditation to avoid US database checks
Some diploma mills claim accreditation from offshore or loosely-defined international bodies to sidestep DoE and CHEA verification. Legitimate international accreditation comes from recognized national ministries of education, not from private international councils with no government affiliation.
Accreditation lookup resources
| Resource | What it covers | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| DoE DAPIP | US accredited institutions and programs | Primary lookup for any US school |
| College Navigator (DoE) | US institutions with accreditation, enrollment, cost data | General school research and accreditation check |
| CHEA directory | Recognized accrediting bodies and their member institutions | Verifying whether an accreditor is legitimate |
| WES / ECE | International credential evaluation | Evaluating foreign degrees for US equivalency |
| VerifyED API | 912K+ institutions + 2,500+ diploma mills in one lookup | High-volume admissions and HR workflows |
Accreditation verification checklist
- School appears in the US Department of Education DAPIP or College Navigator
- School's accrediting body appears in the CHEA recognized accreditors list
- Accrediting body is not self-created by the school or a related entity
- Accreditation type is appropriate for the degree (regional for most 4-year degrees)
- Accreditation status is current — not lapsed, terminated, or probationary
- School does not appear on any diploma mill watchlist
- For professional licenses: programmatic accreditation from the relevant professional body is confirmed
Check any school's status with VerifyED
VerifyED's API checks any school name against 912,000+ legitimate institutions and 2,500+ identified diploma mills in a single call. Returns accreditation data, diploma mill flags, and institution metadata — integrate directly into your admissions platform or ATS.
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