These are good questions that deserve answers.

It's not always just as easy. There are many factors that people weigh in choosing a school:

• Often it's simply a matter of cost. NA is generally less expensive.
  
• DETC schools are generally more liberal in accepting transfer credit than RA schools - particularly in graduate programs. This is very appealing to older students, like me, who balk at the idea of starting over again when returning to school after years of experience. This is in addition to a more liberal approach to experiential learning. The few RA schools that address these issues tend to be more expensive than their peers.
  
• Prestige is always an issue, but not the only one. When I started college, back in the seventies, I didn’t know there was any accreditation but RA. Prestige was still an issue. My peers looked down at students who went to (RA) community or junior colleges. We all knew what (RA) colleges and universities charged top dollar for a mediocre education leading to an easy to earn degree. However, not everyone needed an Ivy League education. In those day's DL wasn't much of an option but many of us (not necessarily me) did fine with the other, kess prestigious alternatives. In DL discussion groups we sometimes get bogged down in discussing accreditation and forget to look at the goals of education.
  
  Not everyone needs the best. Some people have goals that can only be achieved with an RA degree. For some that's not good enough. They need a "good" RA degree. Many others do fine with an NA degree. Some are in need of a terminal degree program that will give them certifiable knowledge and skills. Some people just need to comply with a requirement. In many cases an NA degree will meet these needs as well as an RA one.

I think that you are mistaken here. NA is not only DL and DETC. The forums are full of posts from people who find “the perfect” technical degree at a school accredited by one of the professional NA accreditors. Their posts generally express concern over the prestige and acceptability of the accreditation. There are also non-traditional degree programs that are either not available from RA schools or not available from DL RA schools. One example of such a program is the Doctor of Arts at Harrison Middleton. http://www.chumsci.edu/pages/degree/...s-overview.asp I have my eye on this one myself. Also, each institution stamps its programs with its own style. Different options, electives, requirements etc. Different strokes for different folks.

No one should sell themselves short. On the other hand, everyone should try to make a responsible individual decision based on their own needs, abilities, budget and goals.

"I guarantee that no NA school has a program not offered in RA schools"...honesroc

Do you?

Have a look at just two NA schools. University of Advancing Technology is ACICS - accredited. Full Sail University (great school - I'm not in love with the name) is ACCST-accredited. For this exercise, let's momentarily disregard the fact that UAT, while still NA, has started to pursue Regional Accreditation.

www.uat.edu
www.fullsail.com

Take a look at their campus and on-line offerings. Know many RA schools that offer distance Bachelor's/Master's in these fields - entertainment business, game design, artificial life etc.? Some of their majors would be hard/impossible to find on-campus at an RA school.

As DLG said, there are "non-traditional degree programs that are either not available from RA schools or not available by DL from RA schools."

The National accreditors do a fine (and in some cases, unique) job. As pointed out by previous posters, there are also a few State-licensed and/or "Unaccreds" that do a good job in specific areas. There's a need (and a place) for all the honest-effort ones.

(There's a place for the dishonest ones too, but that's a whole other discussion! )

Johann

Johann

Both you and DLG offer good points on NA, and I'll admit one factor I didn't consider was that NA is not only DL and DETC - that's true. However I was still able to find some of the programs you mentioned above from a RA school:

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh

Admittedly I was stuck on the whole credit acceptance issue when I made my initial comment on this thread (in looking at NA transfers RA), however I'm glad I did because now I know there's more to NA than I initially thought.

Well Done.

in california there are weird things going on like reverends being able to practise counseling and even here in texas if one is a reverend and can prove it via the ordaining church then the requirements for a licensed chemical dependency counselor are waived if they are part of a "faith based method for counseling those addicted to alcohol or addictive chemicals"
want to learn more about bogus credentials and loopholes that are legal? quackwatch.com
or specifically the parent website of credentialwatch.com by stephen barrett, M.D.

Totally off base... (1) There is typically nothing, "illegal" about diploma mills. Heck, if you want to you can design a certificate on your home PC stating you are, “God” and hang it on your wall... some States (the really creepy evil so******t States) have laws that penalize a person for using the title (such as Dr.) or using the degree for obtaining employment... RA = Platinum, NA = Gold, State = Silver, Private = Bronze, and finally diploma mills = Ribbon for best effort.

__________________

LPC, LADC
M.S. Counseling Studies, Capella University
P.B.C. Professional Counseling, Capella University
P.B.C. Addiction Studies, University of Minnesota
B.S. Excelsior College
A.S. Excelsior College