How to Check if a University Is Accredited (Using National University as an Example)

Choosing a university is a life-changing decision, and one of the first things to check is whether the school is accredited. Accreditation protects the value of your degree — it's what helps employers, other institutions, and licensing boards trust that the education you received meets recognized academic standards. A common question students ask when researching US schools is "is National University accredited?" The short answer is yes: National University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). But the more useful skill is knowing how to check accreditation for any school you're considering, since the verification process is the same everywhere — and it takes only a few minutes once you know where to look.

What Is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter?

Accreditation is an external, non-governmental review process that confirms a college or university meets defined standards of academic quality, governance, and student outcomes. The U.S. Department of Education does not accredit institutions directly — instead, the Secretary of Education recognizes a set of independent accrediting agencies as "reliable authorities" on educational quality, and those agencies evaluate and re-evaluate institutions on a recurring cycle (U.S. Department of Education).

There are two broad types of accreditation, and the distinction matters:

Institutional accreditation covers a university as a whole — its finances, governance, faculty, academic offerings, and student support — and confirms the institution operates effectively and delivers quality education. Until recently this category was split into "regional" and "national" accreditation, based on which geographic area an agency historically covered. Under updated federal guidance, agencies that were formerly called "regional accreditors" (including WSCUC) are now more accurately described as institutional accreditors or national accreditors, since several now accredit member institutions well outside their original home region (WSCUC institution toolbox). In practice, institutions that hold this class of accreditation are still generally regarded by universities and employers as the most widely recognized tier.

Programmatic (specialized) accreditation applies to a specific academic program — business, nursing, engineering, social work, teacher preparation, and similar fields — and certifies that department meets standards set by a body focused specifically on that profession. A university can hold solid institutional accreditation while some of its individual programs hold no additional programmatic accreditation, or vice versa in rare cases, so the two are evaluated separately.

Attending an accredited university affects far more than prestige: it typically determines whether your degree is accepted by employers and other institutions, whether you can access financial aid, and — for regulated professions like nursing, teaching, or counseling — whether you're even eligible to sit for a license.

Is National University Accredited?

Yes. National University holds institutional accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), and has held it continuously since it was first accredited in 1977 (WSCUC institutional profile). WSCUC is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), which matters directly for federal financial aid eligibility and broad recognition of the degree (WSCUC; CHEA).

A few concrete facts from NU's current WSCUC accreditation record, as of its most recent Commission action in June 2024:

• Current status: Accredited (not Candidacy, not under a Notice of Concern)
• First accredited: 1977; granted Candidacy in 1975
• Financial structure: Non-profit, organized as a multi-institution system
• Federal financial aid: Distributes federal financial aid (confirmed on the WSCUC directory)
• Most recent Commission action: June 28, 2024

WSCUC's own institution page is the authoritative, continuously updated source for this status — it's worth bookmarking if you want to check back before enrollment (WSCUC directory). Because accreditation status can change (an institution can move onto a Notice of Concern, Warning, or Probation, or come up for reaffirmation), always check the accreditor's live listing rather than relying on a school's own marketing language, and note that WSCUC explicitly requires institutions to disclose any such qualified status rather than describing themselves simply as "accredited" (WSCUC accreditation-status guidance).

Program-Specific Accreditation at National University

Beyond its institutional WSCUC accreditation, several of National University's programs carry accreditation or approval from bodies specific to their field. Based on NU's own published disclosures, these include:

• American Bar Association (ABA) — relevant to legal-education programs
• Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) — for business programs
• Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) — for teacher-preparation programs
• American Psychological Association (APA) — for psychology programs
• Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) — for nursing programs
• Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) — NU's Master of Social Work received full CSWE accreditation in October 2021, after WSCUC approval of the program in October 2018 (NU Social Work program disclosures)

NU's teacher-credential programs are also reviewed separately by California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC). The most recent CTC site-visit report (May 2022) recommended "Accreditation with a 7th Year Report" after finding all five Common Standards met, with one program standard (Clinical Practice, under the Preliminary Multiple/Single Subject credential) flagged as "met with concerns" rather than fully met (CTC accreditation report). That kind of granular, program-level nuance — not just a blanket "accredited" or "not accredited" — is exactly why programmatic accreditation should be checked separately from institutional accreditation, especially if you're entering a licensure-track field.

Because programmatic accreditation is field-specific and can change between reviews, always confirm current status directly with the university's accreditation disclosures page and with the relevant accrediting body's own directory before you enroll in a specific program — don't rely on a general "the university is accredited" claim to cover licensure-relevant programs.

Why Accreditation Matters for Students

Accreditation shapes your academic experience and future options in several concrete ways:

Recognized credentials — Degrees from institutionally accredited schools are far more likely to be accepted at face value by employers and by other colleges or universities considering you for transfer or graduate admission.

Financial aid eligibility — In the US, only students at institutions accredited by a federally recognized agency can access federal Title IV aid (grants and loans); WSCUC's recognition is what allows National University to distribute this aid (WSCUC institutional profile).

Credit transfer — Receiving institutions generally weigh three things when evaluating transfer credit: whether the sending school is accredited, whether the course content matches in rigor and scope, and whether you earned a minimum grade (often a C or higher). Accreditation is necessary but not sufficient — even between two accredited schools, transfer decisions are made course by course, not automatically (Empowerly: Is National University accredited).

Licensure eligibility — For regulated professions (nursing, teaching, counseling, social work, and similar fields), state licensing boards typically require your specific program — not just your university — to hold the relevant programmatic accreditation or state approval.

Employer perception — Most employers don't maintain a formal list of "approved" schools. Hiring managers typically look for institutional accreditation as a baseline signal, then weigh your coursework and demonstrated experience. For highly brand-conscious fields (elite finance, top-tier consulting, certain research-intensive academic tracks), the specific institution's name can still carry more relative weight than accreditation status alone.

How Universities Maintain Accreditation

Accreditation isn't a one-time stamp — it's a recurring cycle. WSCUC's process, for example, generally involves:

Self-study — The institution reviews its own programs, finances, and policies against the accreditor's published standards (for WSCUC, these cover institutional mission and integrity, achievement of educational objectives, resource adequacy, and continuous quality improvement).

Peer review — Trained evaluators from other accredited institutions — often faculty and administrators from peer schools — assess the university's self-study and supporting evidence.

On-site visits — A visiting team spends several days on campus, interviewing administrators, faculty, students, and (for programmatic reviews) even local employers and school-site partners. NU's 2022 CTC accreditation visit, for comparison, involved 412 total interviews across candidates, completers, faculty, and employers (CTC accreditation report).

Commission action and reaffirmation — The accrediting commission then issues a formal action — full reaffirmation, accreditation with a follow-up report required, a Notice of Concern, Warning, Probation, or in rare cases withdrawal of accreditation. Reviews recur on a set schedule (often every several years), so accreditation is continuously re-earned, not permanent.

How to Verify Any School's Accreditation Yourself

You don't have to take a university's word for its own accreditation status. Every legitimate US accreditor publishes a searchable, free directory, and the federal government maintains an aggregator of all of them:

1. Check the U.S. Department of Education's DAPIP database. The Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) is compiled from data that accrediting agencies and state approval agencies report directly to the Department of Education. It's the closest thing to an official master list, though the Department notes the data is self-reported and not independently audited, so cross-check with the accreditor's own site for anything time-sensitive (DAPIP).
2. Search the CHEA database. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation maintains a parallel directory of more than 8,000 institutions and 25,000 programs accredited by agencies recognized by CHEA, the Department of Education, or both (CHEA search).
3. Go to the accrediting body's own directory. For WSCUC specifically, the public directory lists every currently accredited and candidate institution, along with its exact status (Accredited, Accredited with Notice of Concern, Candidate, Probation, Show Cause, or Warning) (WSCUC directory). Other institutional accreditors (Middle States, NECHE, HLC, SACSCOC, Cognia, and others) maintain equivalent public directories.
4. Check the relevant programmatic accreditor if you're entering a licensure-track field — for example, CCNE or ACEN for nursing, CSWE for social work, or your state's teacher-credentialing agency for education programs.
5. For institutions outside the US, the International Association of Universities' World Higher Education Database (WHED) lists roughly 22,000 higher education institutions across 196 countries, sourced from national higher-education authorities, and is recognized as an official reference under the UNESCO Global Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications (WHED).

A useful companion check, especially if you're evaluating a school as an international student: accreditation and government authorization to enroll international students are two separate things. In the US, authorization to host F-1 visa holders comes through SEVP/SEVIS, not through an accreditor — a school can technically be SEVIS-authorized without holding a recognized accreditation, so confirm both independently rather than assuming one implies the other (Amerigo Education: verifying accreditation).

Quick reference: what to check and where

Red Flags That Suggest a School Isn't Legitimately Accredited

A few warning signs are worth watching for, based on how the Department of Education and accreditors themselves describe "diploma mills" and unrecognized accreditation:

• The school cites an accreditor that doesn't appear in the DAPIP or CHEA databases at all — a hallmark of so-called "accreditation mills" that exist only to lend fake legitimacy to diploma mills (U.S. Department of Education: diploma mills).
• Admissions staff are vague about which specific body accredits the school, or provide a name you can't find in any recognized directory.
• The school claims to be "fully accredited" without specifying by whom — a phrase WSCUC itself explicitly instructs its member institutions not to use, since it implies a tier of accreditation that doesn't exist (WSCUC accreditation-status guidance).
• You can't find the school in the accreditor's own current member directory, even though the school lists that accreditor on its own website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is National University a legitimate university? Yes. It's a private, non-profit institution founded in 1971, and it has held continuous institutional accreditation from WSCUC since 1977 (WSCUC; NU).

Does National University's accreditation cover every individual program? Institutional accreditation covers the university as a whole, not each program individually — WSCUC itself advises institutions not to describe individual degrees as "accredited" under its institutional accreditation. Separately, specific NU programs (nursing, social work, teacher preparation, business, psychology, and law-adjacent programs) hold their own field-specific programmatic accreditations, which you should verify individually if you're entering a licensure-track career.

Can I transfer credits from National University to another school? Likely for at least some coursework, since NU is institutionally accredited, but transfer credit is never automatic. Receiving institutions evaluate course-by-course based on content match, rigor, and your grade in the course.

Is regional/institutional accreditation better than national accreditation? Institutional accreditation (the category WSCUC and similar bodies fall into) is generally the most widely recognized tier by other universities, graduate programs, and employers. National accreditation more often applies to career, technical, or faith-based institutions, and can be accepted less consistently for transfer or graduate admission.

How often does a university have to renew its accreditation? It varies by accreditor, but reaffirmation reviews typically recur every several years, alongside interim reports. National University's most recent WSCUC Commission action was in June 2024, following a Special Visit.

Final Thoughts

Verifying accreditation is one of the simplest but most important checks you can make before committing to a university. It affects your access to financial aid, how easily your credits transfer, whether you're eligible for licensure in a regulated field, and how your degree is viewed by employers and other institutions. The check itself costs nothing and takes a few minutes: look the school up in the Department of Education's DAPIP database or the CHEA directory, then confirm the specific program's accreditation separately if you're entering a licensed profession. If you're comparing options beyond the US, you can browse universities and compare programs on our universities directory, explore current programs by field, or search for funding through our scholarship finder as you plan your next steps.

Sources

• WSCUC — National University institutional accreditation profile
• WSCUC — Describing WSCUC and Accreditation Status (institution guidance)
• WSCUC — Accredited Institutions Directory
• U.S. Department of Education — College Accreditation
• U.S. Department of Education — DAPIP Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs
• Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) — Search Institutions
• California Commission on Teacher Credentialing — National University Accreditation Report (2022)
• National University — Social Work Program Approvals and Accreditations
• IAU — World Higher Education Database (WHED)