When even schools don't know the difference between NA and RA

[jsd]

Regional accreditation is recognized nationally/federally, but they're certainly not the same thing. As far as federal recognition it's true that there's no tiered system, but within academia "in practice," there certainly exists a hierarchy. And I'd agree that often times outside of academia ("in the real world") people won't know the difference so could assume national is the highest form, but for anyone that knows the difference they would not consider national the highest form.