NA vs RA grad school

[cookderosa]

True about average people. I'm wondering more about smart, educated people.

Smart educated people don't know automatically- you have to have a reason to investigate it and an interest in learning it - very small sample size. I can give you examples of people I've met in real life who SHOULD have known but didn't, but they were perfectly smart and well educated. OTOH, I don't think understanding accreditation makes you any smarter or better educated than the guy that doesn't. It's not important to know this kind of stuff.
Accreditation is nerd candy for people like us - I'm a super nerd about a lot of subjects that I know deeply, things you don't know (I'm guessing you don't collect Hostas, do extreme couponing, or teach classes about the foods of Parma Italy) but that doesn't make either of us smarter or more educated. So, to diagram the people who know about NA/RA/fictional accreditors and then to create another set of people with opinions about prestige and then ask about the intersection is crazy town.
Why is there an assumption that accreditation and prestige even have an intersection? Prestige (in my opinion) has nothing to do with accreditation and everything to do with emotion. But that's enough social psychology from me tonight, I have to get to bed.

PS I also think University of the People is a terrible name. I've read MANY posts of people opting for TESU or COSC because they didn't like the name Excelsior - I think picking a name you like is a perfectly legit reason to pick a school. Like picking a baby name- names are important and you should feel proud of where you went to college. I was 99.99% ready for my son to earn his NA degree through a perfectly fine school - he was enrolled, but that .01% of my nerdy over-informed-brain pulled him out and put him into COSC. At the end of the day, I had to choose RA for him - and I'm also 99.99% sure it will never matter for his career, but how you feel is important, and since I made the decision, I had to choose RA for him. My vote is to go with what matters TO YOU so feel good about it. Honestly, people have the same analysis paralysis using completely different criteria never once considering accreditation. TRUE STORY last weekend a student volunteer helping me with one of my culinary classes told me she was transferring out of (where I teach) to a different school (down the street) and ACTUALLY TOLD ME "their colors are purple and gold which is sooo pretty." Real words from someone dropping $50k per year on tuition.