Regional Accreditation

Regional accreditation refers to accrediting the institution as a whole. There are six regional accreditors that cover the whole of the United States. Each accreditor covers a certain region of states.

Regional accreditors have the strongest credibility by far. This is probably because they are big, recognizable, and have been around for such a long time. Therefore, regional accreditation gives higher confidence to other accreditors, private employers, and the government.

1. Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSACS)
   Established: 1919
   Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
   Web: www.msche.org
   Accredits colleges and universities in the following states:
   Delaware (DE), Maryland (MD), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), Pennsylvania (PA), Washington DC
   
   
2. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
   Established: 1885
   Location: Bedford, Massachusetts
   Web: www.neasc.org
   Accredits colleges and universities in the following states:
   Connecticut (CT), Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), Rhode Island (RI), Vermont (VT)
   
   
3. North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS)
   Established: 1895
   Location: Chicago, Illinois
   Web: www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org
   Accredits colleges and universities in the following states:
   Arizona (AZ), Arkansas (AR), Colorado (CO), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Nebraska (NE), New Mexico (NM), North Dakota (ND), Ohio (OH),Oklahoma (OK), South Dakota (SD), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (WI), Wyoming (WY)
   
   
4. Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
   Established: 1917
   Location: Redmond, Washington
   Web: www.nwccu.org
   Accredits colleges and universities in the following states:
   Alaska (AK), Idaho (ID), Montana (MT), Nevada (NV), Oregon (OR), Utah (UT), Washington (WA),
   
   
5. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
   Established: 1912
   Location: Decatur, Georgia
   Web: www.sacscoc.org
   Accredits colleges and universities in the following states:
   Alabama (AL), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Kentucky (KY), Louisiana (LA), Mississippi (MS), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Virginia (VA)
   
   
6. Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
   Established: 1962
   Location: Alameda, California
   Web: www.wascsenior.org
   Accredits colleges and universities in the following states:
   California (CA), Hawaii (HI)

See the Regional Accreditation Map below for a visual representation of which institutions accredit in which state. I could not find a map representing regional accreditation, so I created one myself.

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