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Accreditation and Approvals

Accredited Online Degree and Certificate Programs

Sessions College for Professional Design is nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) and regionally accredited at the certificate program level by Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools. Sessions College offers accredited online degrees as well as accredited certificate programs.

Sessions College is a USDLA member and approved as an authorized provider by IACET.  

What Accreditation Means

Accreditation is a certification by a recognized body that a distance education institution has voluntarily undergone a comprehensive study and peer examination that has demonstrated that the institution does in fact meet the established standards. The institution must perform the functions that it claims: that it has set continuing educational goals for students who enroll, offers formal, organized learning experiences and services that enable students to meet these stated goals, and can, in fact, show that students and graduates have benefited from the learning experiences provided.

Accreditation ensures that as an institution, Sessions College for Professional Design meets certain standards. It is a promise that our institution will provide the quality of continuing education courses it claims to offer. Accreditation assures the student that the institution operates on a sound financial basis, has an approved program of study, qualified instructors, adequate facilities and equipment, effective recruitment and admission policies, and advertises its courses truthfully. Historically and currently, accreditation may be said to:

• Foster excellence in education through the development of standards for assessing educational effectiveness;
• Encourage improvement through continuous self-evaluation and planning; and
• Assure the educational community, students, state and federal authorities, the general public and other interested agencies or organizations that this continuing education institution has clearly defined and appropriate objectives; maintains conditions under which their achievement can be reasonably expected; appears in fact to be accomplishing them; and can be expected to continue to do so.
  
  (Definition provided by DETC.)

Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)

Sessions College for Professional Design is accredited by The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). The Distance Education and Training Council is a nationally recognized educational association and accrediting agency located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1926, DETC's mission is to promote sound educational standards and ethical business practices in distance learning. The Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency and is a recognized member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

The DETC has emerged as a leading accrediting association in global distance learning. DETC has accredited members in Australia, Japan, and throughout the United States. With its 85 years of history and its highly refined and federally recognized accreditation program, DETC offers distance learning institutions relevant and rigorous academic and business standards.

To learn more, visit the DETC site.

Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools

Sessions College for Professional Design certificate programs are regionally accredited by The Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools. The Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools is one of three Commissions that function within Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The others are the Commission on Higher Education and the Commission on Elementary Schools. The Commission on Secondary Schools serves both public and non-public schools in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. In addition, it accredits schools in the Caribbean as well as various locations around the world.

The Commission on Secondary Schools (CSS) was established in November, 1920 to promote the improvement of secondary education and to secure better coordination and understanding between secondary schools and institutions of higher education. It serves public and non-public middle, intermediate, and/or secondary schools, non-degree granting vocational technical and postsecondary institutions, special purpose schools, supplementary education centers, and distance education institutions.

To learn more, visit the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools site.

Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education

Sessions College for Professional Design is licensed by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education.

The Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education licenses and regulates 195 private postsecondary educational institutions that operate vocational and degree programs in Arizona. Institutions licensed by the Board include private universities, colleges, career colleges, and vocational schools that serve approximately 321,000 students each year, including Arizona residents and online students across the nation and around the world.

In addition to acting on school license applications, the Board determines compliance, investigates complaints and violations, takes disciplinary action, confiscates and retains student educational records from closed institutions, provides students with access to their educational records, and administers the Student Tuition Recovery Fund, which provides financial restitution to students injured by private postsecondary institutional closures.

To learn more, visit the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education site.

USDLA Member

Sessions College for Professional Design is a member of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

The USDLA is a non-profit association formed in 1987 and is located in Boston, Massachusetts. USDLA promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Distance learning and training constituencies served include pre-k-12 education, higher and continuing education, home schooling as well as business, corporate, military, government and telehealth markets.

The USDLA trademarked logo is the recognized worldwide symbol of dedicated professionals committed to the distance learning industry.

To learn more, visit the USDLA site.

International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET)

Sessions College for Professional Design is approved as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), 1760 Old Meadow Road, Suite 500, McLean, VA 22102.

In obtaining this approval, Sessions College for Professional Design has demonstrated that it complies with the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard which is widely recognized as a standard of good practice internationally.

IACET is known as the premier standard-setting organization for continuing education and training providers. Authorized Providers (APs) are organizations that meet IACET's internationally recognized continuing education and training standard and therefore may award IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs). As an Authorized Provider, Sessions College for Professional Design is authorized to offer IACET CEUs for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard.

To learn more, visit the IACET site, or learn about CEUs at Sessions.