Photography School Accreditation

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PhotographerAccreditation is as important to a photography education as it is to any other discipline. Accreditation means that a school received a comprehensive evaluation and that it met or exceeded established standards. Accreditation reassures students (and future employers) that the school or program was approved by professionals.

Schools in the United States can be accredited nationally, regionally, or programmatically by a variety of non-profit, private accrediting agencies. These agencies are not government agencies, but are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and/or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

Many photography programs are programmatically accredited. The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) is the leading authority recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for photography program accreditation. The NASAD sets out to advance educational techniques and preserve high professional standards in education related to design and art.

Other resources related to arts education accreditation include:

Regional and national accreditation, meanwhile, means a whole school has voluntarily gone through a lengthy, thorough review of all their degree programs, teaching methods, and educational objectives. Regional accreditation makes transferring easier, and federal financial aid more accessible.

The six regional accrediting organizations in the U.S. are:

Not all arts schools are accredited by the NASAD. Some schools opt out of programmatic accreditation because the process can be expensive, or because they want more freedom to take a different approach to teaching. Check with the school in which you're interested to see which kind of accreditation they carry, and why

Other fields related to film and visual arts may be of interest. Please visit our partner sites for additional information: