Many online college students are concerned that the classes they are enrolled in are not accredited online courses, because they may not transfer back to their home university for credit. However, some action can be taken before enrollment to ensure that the courses being taken are accredited online courses.

Check the accreditation of the school you’re taking the accredited online course from. It’s important to make sure the accrediting agency is one that’s recognized by the US Department of Education. They are:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSCHE)

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)

New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA)

Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)

If the accrediting agency is not one of the above, check with the Department of Education to see if the accrediting agency is approved by them.

Another way to determine if the accreditation is good, is to determine whether the school you’re taking the classes from can issue federally funded financial aid. If not, their accreditation is not good enough or it’s fake.Determine whether the accredited online courses will transfer to your home institution. If your school determines that the transferred classes are not similar in content and caliber to the ones at your school, then those courses may not yield credit hours, or they might not count towards degree requirements.

Many counselors will not give a guarantee as to whether a course is transferable since they don’t have the authority to decide transferability, so in many cases it’s incumbent on the student to determine whether the online courses are similar enough to be transferred.

For example, it would not be a good idea to take an Microsoft Excel course for transfer back to a liberal arts college because the Excel course is strictly vocational, not liberal arts. Similarly, don’t take a science fiction literature course if it’s going to be transferred back to a trade or vocational school. To improve your chances of having accredited online courses transferred, pick a reputable institution. That will increase your chances of having your course successfully transferred. Remember, accreditation is not enough for a course to be transferred. They can still deny it based upon factors such as reputation.

It may be good idea to look at a number of schools and then pick the one that seems most reputable with course content that resembles your home institution. Find other students at your college who have taken online classes that successfully transferred, and find out what schools they chose.Once you’re in the online class, the most important thing you can do is to not fall behind. Typically, the online course should not be any easier or have less content than the on campus version. The only advantage is that you can save yourself hours of commuting time by taking it online. Otherwise it should have the save rigor as an on campus class. This means you still have to study and do homework on the same schedule as the on-campus sections.Save the syllabus and reading list of the courses you are taking online. Your college or major department may wish to see them before deciding whether go grant credit. This also means you should pick the most rigorous course from the most reputable school possible, so you should shop around before deciding upon a school – don’t just pick the first school you find with a course that’s super easy. It’s no good if your course doesn’t transfer over. Once you have passed the accredited online courses, request for a transcript to be sent back to your home institution so that credit can be applied towards your degree.