Accreditation

There are several types of accreditation. For 98% of our purposes (meaning undergraduate, non-specialized requirements) we will only need to consider two: Regional Accreditation and National Accreditation.

Regional Accreditation (acronym: RA)
Regional Accreditation is generally considered the "gold standard" of college accreditation. Do not be confused by the names! In the academic world, RA is far superior to NA! RA governs public and many private degree-granting colleges and universities nationwide. RA is "academic" in nature.

National Accreditation (acronym: NA)
National Accreditation is much less stringent than Regional and is generally frowned upon by those in academia. NA schools are private, typically for-profit, and only 34% actually award degrees. NA is generally considered to cover "vocational" training.

A note on transferrability of credits
The following is a generalization. You should check your specific school for details.

You can transfer RA credits to an RA school. You can transfer NA credits to an NA school.

You CAN transfer RA credits to an NA school
Generally speaking, NA schools honor credits earned at an RA school. Note that the decision to honor credit is solely at the school's discretion and any credits must apply to your degree program. You can't expect to transfer in 30 credits in underwater basket weaving towards your computer science degree!

You CANNOT transfer NA credits to an RA school
It is almost always impossible to transfer credits you received from an NA school to an RA school. There may be some limited exceptions, so check your school for their specific policies on your given situation, and always get the answers in writing.