Colleges & Universities

  Accreditation is one process used by the American higher education system to access and scrutinize the
  quality of institutions of higher education. There are two types of institutional accreditation: regional
  and national. Institutions with regional accreditation are nearly all degree-granting and non-profit. There
  are six regional accrediting organizations across the United States that assess and monitor institutions in
  their geographical area. National accrediting organizations, on the other hand, accredit both degree-granting
  and non-degree-granting (career schools, for example) institutions. Additionally, many institutions with
  national accreditation are for-profit. National acceditors are not traditionally limited by geographic area,
  and have members spread across the country.

  The United States Department of Education (USDOE) and Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
  recognize certain accrediting organizations and accept those organizations as sufficient for institutional
  oversight. The USDOE recognizes accrediting organizations in accordance with federal law and regulations. 
  Institutions must be accredited by an accrediting organization recognized by the USDOE in order to offer
  federal financial aid to students; those not accreditd by a USDOE-recognized accreditor cannot participate
  in federal aid programs.

  Regarding the transfer of credits, it is up to each institution to decide what to accept. However,
  as a general rule, regionally-accredited institutions do not accept credits from nationally- or
  non-accredited institutions.  

  Regional and national accreditation focuses on the institution as a whole, and does not look at individual
  programs. In some cases, a program within an institutions may be accredited by a specialized accreditor
  in a particular field. This is not required, however, and varies widely from institution to institution. Specialized
  accreditors only examine a particular program and have no bearing on the quality of the institution as a whole.

  For more information, see USDOE's page on accreditation.

  Independent Institutions

  In-state, regionally-accredited, non-profit institutions licensed to operate in Connecticut