The many young Chinese planning to study in the US should watch out for fly-by-night schools, those lacking certification from the US Department of Education (DoE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). If you found yourself at this sort of school, you might be able to get your money back, but the time wasted would be lost forever. Also, bear in mind that the Chinese government only recognizes degrees from accredited schools.

　　How can you tell if a school has accreditation or not? US schools generally announce their accreditation in ad-mission brochures. If you are in any doubt, log in at www.chea.org and go to the directory, //where// there is informa-tion on the six regional accrediting agencies (Middle States, New England, North Central, Northwest, Southern and Western) and a list of schools approved by them.

　　The US Constitution does not allow the federal gov-ernment to regulate educational institutions directly. How-ever, the DoE does grant accrediting authority to the six private regional associations, which it reviews regularly. When you choose a university, check whether it has been accredited by one of these six. There are other accrediting agencies recognized by the DoE for certain specialized schools also listed on the CHEA website. Many regionally accredited schools, employers and government agencies, however, will not accept credits from these schools; if you wish to attend one of them, make sure the credits are accepted by potential employers.

　　Fly-by-night schools tend to share certain characteris-tics. For example, they may state that you can get a bache-lor's degree by paying, say, , a master's degree for , a doctorate for ,000. An accredited school would never make such statements. After all, each univer-sity student in America chooses different courses in pro-grams of indeterminate length, which obviously means total tuition fees will also vary.

　　The admission brochure of a fly-by-night school will often emphasize that the president received this or that doctorate insgroupsto persuade readers that it is a good school. But the president doesn't teach, so who cares what degree he or she has? On the other hand, an accredited school will specify which degrees each faculty member has andswheresthey were earned.

　　Some fly-by-schools know students care about ac-creditation and therefore claim they have an accrediting agency. As long as you mail in some dollars, your degree, they say, can be accredited. Don't accept such claims on faith; check to confirm that the so-called accrediting agency is one of the six mentioned above. If it is not, your credits and degree will not be recognized by government agencies or many employers.

　　Are fly-by-night schools that lack CHEA accreditation illegal? Not necessarily. Some have a charter from their state government. Each state sets its own accrediting criteria; some are strict, some are not. Perhaps the strictest is Oregon, while Montana, Hawaii and California, for example, are rather lax. In the past the federal govern-ment has attempted to standardize the criteria, but without success; it is still the law that each state has the right to approve schools within its borders.

　　Some 3600 institutions of higher education have been accredited (only a small minority fail to gain accreditation) on the basis of four factors:

　　MISSION. All institutions are evaluated on how they fulfill their educational mission, not on //where// they are in the peckingsgroupsof colleges and universities. This mis-sion is always posted on an accredited school's website.

　　RESOURCES. Does the school possess the finances, qualified faculty and students, programs of study and facil-ities it needs to carry out its mission?

　　EFFECTIVENESS. How well are students taught? This is not merely a matter of the staff's academic creden-tials.

　　STABILITY. A proper school is not here today and gone tomorrow. Administrators must show that they are continuously striving to improve the institution.

　　People choose accredited schools to receive a good education and earn a real degree. But funny things can happen in China: I have heard of companies here chal-lenging the validity even of diplomas issued by elite American universities. These problems are easy to sort out: Check the website of the university. If you cannot find a list of graduates, contact the school directly, by e-mail, phone or letter. US schools, especially elite ones, are extremely mindful of their reputation and sensitive to any faking of diplomas; they will respond quickly to Chinese requests for verification.