Some states authorize or approve schools, but this refers to financial and licensing requirements, not the quality of education there. Instead, colleges and universities have formed associations that set the standards themselves. This means it earns the right to be listed on the accrediting body's list of acceptable schools. A school must maintain these high standards in order to remain accredited. Your government may also insist that you earn a degree from a school with both types of accreditation.
Institutional accreditation is based upon the entire school.
Professional accreditation is based upon the standards kept by a particular school of law, medicine, engineering or business, for example, and is determined by judges within those professions. You can find out whether a college or university is accredited by checking the latest edition of a book published by the American Council on Education. This book, Accredited Institutions of Post-Secondary Education , should be available in your local school or educational advising center library. You can also find out if a school is accredited by looking up the school's listing in a recent edition of one of the directories mentioned earlier in this article. The degree-granting colleges and universities profiled on Study in the U.S.A. are fully accredited.