When researching which online school to “attend,” a crucial step is determining if the institution is an accredited online school, and if so, by whom.

What is accreditation?

Accreditation is an educational institution’s stamp of approval, designating that it has met standards set to ensure that schools provide a quality education. Accreditation serves an important role in quality control, providing students with the assurance that they will be adequately prepared for either the job force or continued education.
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, signed into law on February 17, aims to lend a helping hand to not only employment, health care and taxes, but significantly for the struggling state school systems: It more than doubles the education funding of the previous presidential administration.

Of the act’s $787 billion cost ($288 billion in tax cuts and $499 billion in spending), up to $141.6 billion will go to education, according to the Department of Education. Granted, most estimates are closer to $120 billion, but that’s still a sizable sum compared to previous allotments for education. The direct funding of education (as opposed to tax credits, tuition grants, renovations and administration) alone amounts to over $77 billion, a 159% increase over 2008 allocations for the Department of Education. The breakdown of the education budget is laid out after the jump… (more…)

All across the country, student enrollment in two-year colleges is on the rise. States are reporting increases in community and technical college enrollments of upwards of 20% over last year, with one Idaho school more than doubling its enrollment since last spring. The reason isn’t hard to figure out: the recession.

Thanks to the struggles of the current economy, college students are increasingly choosing the cheaper alternative of two-year schools. Even students who want to pursue a Bachelor’s degree can save a significant amount of money — anywhere from $4,000 to $40,000 a year — by studying at a community college for the first two years of their post-secondary education and then transferring. (more…)

It was only a matter of time before someone took the concept behind Netflix — renting mail-order movies online — and applied it to books. And what book has a higher demand-and-subsequent-return ratio than a textbook? (A Million Little Pieces notwithstanding.) Currently, there are three major online book rental companies offering textbooks (more…)

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education‘s annual National Report Card on Higher Education came out this week, and EVERY SINGLE STATE in the US earned a resounding “F” when it came to affordability (i.e., how hard it is to pay for college, taking into account tuition, financial aid and family income). Every state, that is, except California, which earned a shining C- due to its unusually low-cost community colleges. Congratulations, you’re slightly below par!

Particularly telling is the report’s chart (left) of college tuition growth as compared to other major expenses since 1982-84. Not only has it increased by more than four times the rate of the Consumer Price Index during that time, but its pace is more than that of food, housing and transportation COMBINED. Only health care comes relatively close to the meteoric rise in college costs, and even that is just a bit more than half the rate of tuition.

Just eight years ago, 46 states passed the affordability test, meaning that only — no wait, don’t tell me, 7 5 4 states flunked. See what education can do for you?