Sessions College Awarded 5th Renewal of Accreditation

With great pride, I am delighted to announce that on Friday July 18th, 2025, Sessions College received its fifth renewal of accreditation from the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC).

Our special thanks and kudos to all staff, faculty, and students who participated in the 12-month journey of making our accreditation renewal a success.

Founded in 1997, Sessions College has been accredited by DEAC since 2001, and by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools since 2006. (DEAC) is a private, non-profit organization that operates as an accreditor of institutions that primarily offer distance education. The DEAC is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

What is accreditation? In U.S. higher education, accreditation is a voluntary process of quality assurance and school improvement that every college undertakes every five, seven, or ten years. Every college that wishes to be accredited must provide evidence to an accrediting agency that it meets a detailed set of educational and business standards. The college submits documentation on every aspect of its operations.

Educational programs are evaluated by educators from other institutions to make sure faculty are appropriately qualified and course outcomes are rigorous and relevant. Evaluators visit the institution and interview staff, faculty, and students to gain an understanding of how classes are delivered and graded. At the end of the day, a school or college must pass multifaceted standards to gain or retain its accreditation.

You might ask, what is the value of accreditation—what does it do for students? As Sessions College President, I confess that I am a tireless (some would say tiresome) proponent of accreditation, having served on the Middle States Commissions of Secondary Schools from 2007-2013 and on the DEAC Commission from 2017-2023, where I had the great fortune to work with some outstanding educators and witness the key role accreditation plays in advancing quality throughout our higher education system.

In a time of constantly changing educational platforms and modes of delivery, accreditation provides a reliable yardstick for evaluation and improvement:

• It provides quality assurance to students and other schools and colleges, affirming the quality of programs and the value of degrees or other credentials earned
• It challenges an institution to engage in self evaluation and to listen to feedback from external educators
• It is a requirement for any college wishing to participate in Federal Student Aid programs and military student education benefits

For Sessions College, accreditation by DEAC offers a special benefit not available from other accrediting organizations. DEAC is the only accreditor with specialized knowledge of distance education, and in an era where most colleges and a great many non-accredited schools offer online programs, it’s a tremendous benefit to Sessions College that our institution is regularly reviewed by educators who understand best practices in distance education.

At Sessions College, online design and digital media education isn’t some shiny new object or expansion of on-campus programs—it’s all we do. It’s been our entire focus for more than twenty-five years.

And as we enter a new accreditation cycle, we look forward to offering exciting new programs and innovative ways to advance our learning community, built on the strong foundation of DEAC accreditation.

To learn more about Sessions College awards and recognitions, visit our accreditation and approvals page. To learn more about the the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, visit deac.org. To learn more about accreditation in the United States, visit chea.org or ed.gov.