It seems like so many people these days are interesting in going back to school to further their careers. While online schools and cheap programs offering quick degrees sound appealing, the degree earned might not be worth anything.

Colleges and universities can earn three seperate levels of accreditation, which means that the school has been certified as acceptable by a national accrediting organization.

If a degree is earned from a non-accredited university, there is a chance that an employer will not accept the degree as being legitamate, and will thus not hire the person who spent time and money on earning that degree.

So how do you protect yourself? If you have doubts about a particular institution, contact them and ask if they are accredited, and if so, by whom. Then research the accrediting organization to verify that it is legitimate and government- recognized.

An easier method for discovering the legitimacy of a program is to go to the Department of Education's website (www.ed.gov), or better yet, the website UCEAdirectory.org (www.UCEAdirectory.org). Created by the leading continuing education organization in the country, UCEAdirectory.org is a directory of programs by regionally accredited institutions. That means that if you find a program on UCEAdirectory.org, you can be absolutely positive that it is a real school offering a real degree that real employers will accept.

Before making any significant purchase, you should always check the validity of the item involved and the person selling it. That goes for buying something on the Internet and checking to make sure the site is legitimate, or using Carfax to discover the history of a used car, or having an appraiser determine the value of a house you are interested in purchasing. A graduate or adult education program is one of the most significant purchases you will ever make, and the rules should be no different.