Fashion Design School Accreditation

Fashion design school accreditation is one of the most important aspects to consider as you´re choosing where you want to apply. If you want to be able to prove to future employers that your degree is valuable and authentic, you must get it from an accredited school; there are no two ways around it. When a school is accredited, that means it has been shown to meet a certain set of standards that professional organizations have found to be sufficient. But how do you know whether the accreditation itself is sufficient? This can be the difficult question. With a little information, though, it´s easy to spot a legitimately accredited school from a scam.

Where to Find out About Fashion Design School Accreditation

There are many resources to learn more about the accreditation of various fashion design schools that you may be considering. These are some of the leading national and regional accrediting bodies that you can turn to for recommendations before you apply to any fashion design schools:

The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools: The ACICS is another national accrediting body that evaluates fashion and design programs for accreditation, as well as other independent academic disciplines.

Middle State Association of Colleges and Schools: A regional accrediting agency for schools and colleges, including fashion design schools.

The National Association of Schools of Art and Design: The NASAD is a national accrediting body for art, design and fashion design programs with an established set of professional standards for accreditation.

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools: The NCACS is a regional accrediting body for the north central region of the United States.

Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges: Northwestern colleges are evaluated by this regional accrediting body.

New England Association of Schools and Colleges: The NEASC is an accrediting board for all schools and colleges in the New England area.

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools: An accrediting organization for southern schools and colleges.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges: The WASC is a regional accrediting agency for institutions of higher learning on the West Coast.

The Council for Interior Design Accreditation, Council of Arts Accrediting Association and Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design may also have valuable information about design-related school programs.

The most important thing to remember is to make sure to find out whether or not the school of your interest is accredited before you apply. Don´t waste any of your precious time and money on schools that aren´t.