Answer 1: The institution does not appear to have the preferred regional accreditation. This may present some problems for you in the future. Read the following.

For colleges and universities within the United States and its territories, the critical issue is the schools accreditation. When choosing a college or university make sure the institution has a regional accreditation. With a regional accreditation, you can be assured the coursework and degree you complete will be recognized by all other colleges and universities as well as employers. Below are listed the six regional accrediting agencies and their geographical areas of responsibility. Make sure the school is accredited by one of them.

Regional Accreditation Agencies

· Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools - Educational institutions in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, as well as schools for American children in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

· New England Association of Schools and Colleges - Educational institutions in the six New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).

· North Central Association of Colleges and Schools - Educational institutions in Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

· Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities - Postsecondary institutions (colleges and universities) in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

· Western Association of Schools and Colleges - Educational institutions in California, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Micronesia, Palau, and Northern Marianas Islands.

· Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - Educational institutions in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.

Answer 2: Higher education, accreditation, distance learning, and both identifying and helping law enforcement to prosecute degree and diploma mills is one of my consulting firm's areas of expertise; and I've been doing it for pushing 40 years.

The answer to the question is "no," but for two reasons. First and foremost, Phoenix State University isn't accredited anywhere, by anyone, period. Trust me, Phoenix State University is not merely unaccredited; it is, flat-out, a worthless and good-for-nothing degree mill.

The second reason that the answer is "no," though, is that schools are not accredited by state. With the exception of the state of New York (which, uniquely among states, actually is an accreditor approved by the federal government), states only approve schools to operate within their borders. Accreditation is left to agencies approved by the US Department of Education (USDE), and/or the USDE-sanctioned Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). In the case of the USDE, that's a federal organization, and its sanctioned CHEA is a non-governmental organization (NGO), operating at a nationwide (and so, effectively, a federal) level. States, then (again, with the exception of New York which, uniquely among states, is USDE-approved to accredit) do not accredit. Period.

So, then, there's no such thing as such-and-such school being "accredited" in Missouri... or any other state, for that matter. It's always an interstate sort of thing.

Determining if any school is accredited is very easy to do. One needn't waste one's time asking in a place like this. There's a way for anyone to look-up the school in either or both of the USDE and/or CHEA online databases of accredited schools. It only takes, literally, 30 to 60 seconds; and if the school in question is not listed in at least one of those two databases, then said school is positively not accredited, no matter what it claims on its website.

Only if a given school is listed in at least one (or both) of the USDE and/or CHEA databases is it really and truly accredited. Never believe what the school's website says. Always, always, always look it up. Again, it takes less than a minute! And, because there are a tiny handful of accreditors that are approved by USDE, but not CHEA (and vice versa), be sure to look-up the school in the second database if you don't find it in the first, just in case it's listed in one, but not the other.

Also, in the case of Phoenix State University, be sure not to confuse it with University of Phoenix, which really is accredited. Phoenix State University is not.

I've provided links to the USDE and CHEA databases of accredited schools in the "sources and related links" section, below.

Regarding the good-for-nothing Phoenix State University: Please also see, in the "sources and related links" section, below, that I've provided a link to another question and its answers, here, wherein Phoenix State University is discussed, at length... primarily by me. Note, though, the underhanded tactics that the degree millist used, there; how he removed my words in my answer wherein I showed that it's a degree mill, and then inserted words which he intended the reader to think were mine, which words tried to make it sound like a court had ordered me to retract my words. Then notice how I documented what he did, and put my words back.

Then go to that question's discussion page (to which I've also provided a link, here), and notice the games that the millist plays there (remember that the comments there are newest-to-oldest, so start from the bottom of the discussion page and read from bottom to top if you want to read said comments in chronological order). Just look at the games he plays there, too; the lies, the threats, the attempted intimidation; and then notice how I call him on it.

Degree mills like Phoenix State University are run by bona fide con artists... grifters... criminals... serious and real criminals, little different from some punk kid who picks-up a gun and robs some small mom-and-pop store in town. The only difference is that degree mill operators are committing what law enforcement calls "white collar" crimes, so there's no gun involved. But the theft and deceit and criminal conversion is all the same.

They do it because, as it turns out, degree mills can make a lot of money if they're run right; if their websites are well-built and believable, and if the con artist is good at what he does. Such websites attract degree-seekers who don't know how to vet the information they read on such sites; who don't know anything about accreditation and how it protects the public from the deceptions of degree mills.

Sadly, degree mill websites also attract people who are just as deceitful as the degree mill operators... people who know, very well, that the degree mill is exactly that; that it's not a real school; and that its degree are fake/bosus. But they want to be able to put some kind of degree on their resume, and so they just pay for one, at the degree mill. If said mill's website is sufficiently impressive-looking, they hope that employers and others who see their fake degrees on their resumes will, when they visit the mill's website, be fooled into believing that it's a real school, the offers real degrees. The truth is, most customers of degree mills are like that: criminals, themselves, who know exactly what they're doing; who are trying to pull a fast one, themselves; who are trying to see if they can get away with it. That's, in part, why people with fake degrees often defend them, and the mills from which they got them, almost to the death; even more vigorously, in many instances, than the mill owner, himself/herself, tends to do.

I am universally reviled by such people because when I discover them, I "out" them. If I find a college professor, for example, with a degree mill "degree," I stick my nose right in his business and do everything in my power to get him fired. Same with police officers and fire fighters, or teachers, or anyone else with a fake degree. Every election season, there's always someone, somewhere, running for mayor, or city council person, or whatever other elected position, who has a fake degree. When I discover them, I contact the newspaper and TV and radio stations and do everything in my power to "out" him/her, and cause him/her to lose the election. A fake degree speaks volumes about the character and integrity (more specifically, the lack thereof) of the person who claims it. People with fake degrees need to be prosecuted, just the same as the degree mill operators who sell them.

Phoenix State University is a worthless and good-for-nothing degree mill; and the person who runs it is a common criminal... a low-life, who needs to be in prison. Simple as that.

Please see the links, in the "sources and related links" section, below, to learn more.

phoenix A mythical bird that periodically burned itself to death and emerged from the ashes as a new phoenix. According to most stories, the rebirth of the phoenix happened every five hundred years. Only one phoenix lived at a time. * To "rise like a phoenix from the ashes" is to overcome a seemingly insurmountable setback.

Source: Answers.com