Unique Original Articles » The Benefits of Private Colleges

Accreditation is a way of ensuring that an institution's programs and facilities have been given approval by the education community. It is your guarantee that the school meets minimum standards of quality determined by a rigorous peer review and serves as the school's validation of its academic efforts.

What is Accreditation?

"Accreditation means: This institution is fulfilling its stated purpose with integrity and excellence," according to the National Association of Private Schools (NAPS), which focus on private and Christian schools. Accreditation indicates that a school meets or exceeds standards and criteria for quality periodically applied through a peer group process, according to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

Simply belonging to a state, regional or national organization does not mean that a school is accredited. Nor is accreditation granted when a school pays an application fee. Accreditation is not permanent, and must be maintained over time.

Private counseling for college preparation is a growing industry with thousands of people calling themselves educational consultants. Are private counseling services really beneficial? Parents and students should consider a few key points before putting out money for these types of services.

1. Should you pay for college prep counseling?

Accreditation Standards

The competition for acceptance into top colleges seems to get harder each year. In addition to a high grade point average, advanced placement classes, and SAT scores, students may be expected to participate in extracurricular activities as well.

The basic premise of accreditation is that institutions are held to the same standards. For example, The Commission on Independent Schools (CIS) one of five commissions of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, accredits more than 600 private schools in its six-state region - including traditional boarding and day preparatory schools, private elementary schools, schools serving students with special needs, and religiously-affiliated schools of many faiths.

Parents frequently hire private college counselors in the hopes of getting their kids in the right school. However, paying for a counselor might be unnecessary because high school counselors in most cases provide similar advice without any expense. An exception may be when school counseling is inadequate.

"The quality assurance aspect of accreditation is accomplished by requiring that a school must meet all standards at any time that compliance is assessed by the Commission or bring itself into compliance within a time period set by the Commission, not to exceed one year," according to CIS guidelines.

2. Do private counselors have any credentials?

There are two major national associations for private college counselors, the IECA and the NACAC, both require members to demonstrate a certain level of experience but don't offer accreditation. Another group, the AICEP, says they require a master's degree in a relevant field, references and a written exam, but they concede that guidelines are flexible. It appears that most counselors have no formal accreditation.

3. Is it too late to benefit from private counseling?

Many colleges use an applicant's GPA and SAT scores during sophomore and junior year, which means that hiring a college counselor later in high school can have little effect. Because they don't want to turn away paying customers, many private college counselors sign up the bulk of their clients later after they get their PSAT scores, but that can be too late.