Executive Summary

"...the (U.S. Department of Education) makes no distinction between accreditation bodies, giving all equal standing."  (From Wikipedia)

1.  Accreditation and authority to operate are widely misunderstood by members of the public.  This confusion is exacerbated by functionaries of the traditional system who misrepresent the facts in order to retain their control, power and access to public money.  Most of all, state government officials and people who oppose freedom of education are opposed to nontraditional alternatives to the existing system.

2.  Accreditation in the United States is NOT a function of either the state or federal governments.

3.  Authority to operate is a function of state governments, not the federal government. 

4.  The states vary widely in the extent to which they either do or don't regulate private institutions of higher education.

5.  Some states DO NOT REGULATE private institutions of higher education at all. 

6.  The federal government is constitutionally prohibited from regulating private higher education in the states.

7.  The public can easily protect itself with relatively simple inquiries into the credentials of an educational institution and its graduates.  The public does not need "big brother" to think for it. 

8.  Regus University and The American Colleges are accredited by the Foundation for Integrity in Distance Learning Accreditation (FIDLA).

Some Details From Wikipedia:

"Education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of an educational institution or program are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met.  Should standards be met, accredited status is granted by the agency.

In the United States...the quality assurance process is independent of government and performed by private membership associations.

When discussing accreditation in the United States, it is important that the concept of accreditation not be confused with authority to operate. 

The authority to operate an educational entity in the U.S. is granted by each of the states individually.  The U.S. is a federal republic, and the federal government possesses only specific limited powers, with all others reserved to the states (pursuant to the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.)

"Therefore, the authority of the U.S. Department of Education does not extend to authorizing schools to operate, to enroll students, or to award degrees.  In addition, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is not responsible for accreditation of institutions, NOR is the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), a non-governmental organization.  Both recognize reputable accrediting agencies for institutions of higher education and provide guidelines as well as resources and relevant data.

In the United States, education accreditation has long been established as a peer review process coordinated by accreditation commissions and the members.

"...the U.S. Department of Education officially states, it does not accredit schools.  Instead, accreditation commissions are formed, funded, and operated by their members to create an academic community that is self-regulating.

"...The federal government makes no distinction between accreditation bodies, giving all equal standing.  There is no similar federal government list of recognized accreditation agencies for primary and secondary schools.  There is wide variation among the individual states in the requirements applied to non-public primary and secondary schools."