Is regional accreditation still important for grad school?

[soliloquy]

Master of Science in Organizational Management - Southeast Missouri State University

See the update section. I cannot speak for all programs but mine is. there is an affordability flyer on their website somewhere. I found it but my phone wont let me post it....

[soliloquy]

As usual she already beat me to it.... re the federal loans...

[soliloquy]

I was asking in general and I think I received a sufficient response.

[Prloko]

That will give me two months to study for the statistics exam and two months to study for the GRE or GMAT. By the way, is the GRE easier? They said they'll accept either of them.

"Easier" is irrelevant when it comes to standardized tests, since they are based on how you do against other test takers. I'm sure your school has a target percentile/cut-off they have in mind for their exams. See if you can find a class profile on the school website or see if the school has a specific score target in mind. In my experience, non-competitive programs have GMAT scores in the 400-500s. Whereas the competitive programs are looking at 600 and up just to even be looked at (Top 3 in the 700s). I haven't looked up the mean score for GMAT, but I believe it's around 550.

[sanantone]

Here's a major issue for non-regionally accredited schools;

YOU CANNOT RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID!

Even if the institution has national accreditation, the students of an institution with only national accreditation cannot receive federal financial aid (not including state aid or GI Bill benefits).

Any school with accreditation recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or CHEA can participate in Title IV funding. Many DETC schools choose not to participate to keep costs low; CSU is not one of them. Amberton University, which is RA, chooses not to participate in Title IV.

[soliloquy]

Any school with accreditation recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or CHEA can participate in Title IV funding. Many DETC schools choose not to participate to keep costs low; CSU is not one of them. Amberton University, which is RA, chooses not to participate in Title IV.

Amberton does allow deferral of payments if your credit history if satisfactory. If I had chosen to go there, I would have used this option. I like their statement regarding pay as you go and long-term debt. Since it is a Christian college, it makes sense to me that this would be their philosophy. Romans 13:8 to owe nothing but love is a powerful reminder of God's distaste for all forms of debt that are not being paid in a timely manner (see also Psalm 37:21). I wonder why other Christian colleges, given those values, don't follow suit.

[zenurez]

Soliloquy, that SEMO program looks fantastic! And I saw the online cost to match in state. I'm loving all those management courses. I have to say I'm having a hard time getting motivated to take more accounting and statistics courses for an MBA. LOL.
Now a Masters in Management degree with an AACSB rating. Wouldn't that be on the opposite ends of the continuum?

Master of Science in Organizational Management - Southeast Missouri State University

See the update section. I cannot speak for all programs but mine is. there is an affordability flyer on their website somewhere. I found it but my phone wont let me post it....

[soliloquy]

Soliloquy, that SEMO program looks fantastic! And I saw the online cost to match in state. I'm loving all those management courses. I have to say I'm having a hard time getting motivated to take more accounting and statistics courses for an MBA. LOL.
Now a Masters in Management degree with an AACSB rating. Wouldn't that be on the opposite ends of the continuum?

The way I intend to use this degree is to supplement my undergrad with a concentration in legal studies. My goal is to get a raise in my current job where I am already a paralegal manager but do not have the salary to go with my position. My employer assures me that if I obtain this Master's degree they can increase my billable rate AND give me a raise. Currently, I am billed at $100.00 per hour. I argued that if they bill me at $125.00 per hour, that is a $37,500 increase in revenue for the firm per year. If they bill me at $150.00 per hour, then it is double that. Either billable rate is well within market rate for my experience, certifications, and eventually degrees.

I am arguing for them to split that "increase" with me 50/50 since they are not offering tuition assistance and it's my studying and my degree in essence that would give them the ability to be able to increase their revenue. I more than cover my own overhead billing 30 hours per week 50 week per year. I had a long conversation with the senior partner about this previously and so far he has agreed (but nothing in writing yet). I would be happy with a raise here as I have no immediate plans to leave but when the senior partner (who I work with) retires, I'll probably be looking for another job - who knows if a better opportunity comes along I may leave even earlier.

With additional managerial experience, my legal studies background, and my Master's, I hope to be able to eventually transition to a larger corporation's legal department or a large firm. I know that the Master's degree is useless without the experience. I can obtain more managerial legal experience here. But, for most of the types of firms I would be interested in working with, an MBA would not be necessary. For example, some attorneys decide to do a JD/MBA combo but it's not extremely useful—unless you want to focus in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, or bankruptcy, where an MBA could be very valuable.

[Dr John]

I am really liking that Masters in Organizational Management degree, I may look into that in the near future. The cost seems pretty reasonable if its really costing under $10,000. I have to complete Air Command and Staff College first, then I'll look into that masters degree. What I don't like is that I'll have to take the GRE/GMAT or LSAT to get accepted.

The two attorneys and the judge I work with all have an MBA in addition to their law degrees. The Judge was telling me over lunch yesterday that he had to go all the way to the dean to get exempted from having to take the GRE/GMAT as well as having the calculus requirement waived. I am not sure if having an MBA has helped them at all, but you can not argue that it doesn't strengthen your resume' when you are applying for positions as an attorney.

Congrats on your impending graduation...... By the way, in Texas some of the paralegal studies programs are all turning towards graduate programs now, leading to the awarding of a masters degree. the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University are two of them that come to mind.

[cookderosa]

It's important if you ever want to teach college courses. Other than that, private employers don't know the difference. Some state and local agencies will only accept regional accreditation for employment and/or licensure. The federal government considers NA and RA to be equal. I once saw a federal job that required ACBSP or AACSB accreditation. Some large, private organizations have posted job ads requiring or preferring AACSB accreditation, but this is rare.

One thing to consider is that there are RA schools that are cheaper than CSU. FHSU is one of them.

There are specific national accreditors that are okay, and the rest are not. Check the database whenever you are considering a school. But all things being equal (cost/time/degree title) there are no reasons to choose NA over RA. It's when things are unequal that you have to start thinking about the pros and cons.