With Criminal Justice College Online Programs, You Can Advance Your Career

There are few excuses for people not to get their degree. There is plenty of financial aid and inexpensive programs available and there are online programs available to those that have little time. Be part of public service and help your community by taking part of this field. The following are options for you as a student of a Criminal Justice College Online Degree.

Even if you work full time, even if you are a stay at home mother, even if you have just a few hours a day, an online course makes education possible. The program is accessed by your home computer and at your leisure. Even a program that typically takes 2 years to complete, you could take 5 years or 1 year depending on your progression through the classes. There is no pressure to finish in a certain time frame. Online classes are generally very affordable. Because a professor has little overhead costs, the savings are passed down to you, the student.

You can get a certification like Para-legalism or Court Reporter. You can get an associates degree in criminology or security. You can get your bachelors degree in a number of concentrations. You can even get your Masters Degree or Doctoral from Criminal Justice College Online.

Careers that arise from attending an online college and getting a degree are legal assistant, court officer, paralegal, legal administrator, police officer, correctional officer and so many more. These are not jobs, these are long life careers that offer advancement opportunities and security in the job market. The salaries for these jobs start at $25,000 to $175,000. The possibilities are endless.

The best advice is to choose a career of interest before enrolling in a Criminal Justice Online program. This way you know what education is required of you for that career. You can find schools that type of career recommends. You can be sure that the online school is accredited and approved.

If you aren't sure you might want to ask a few different office, agencies and programs to let you sit in on a day's work. Talk to people who are employed as these legal professionals and research what the job descriptions are. Get your education started because its a gateway to so many possibilities in a thriving job industry.

Go to http://www.CriminalJusticeDegreeJobs.com for more information about criminal justice college online programs and find schools near you.

5 Things you Need to Know About Criminal Justice School Accreditation

When deciding which criminal justice program to attend, the accreditation issue is very important. There are certain things that you should know about accreditation.

1. What is accreditation?

Accreditation means that a school and its programs have been peer reviewed through site visits by bodies recognized and authorized by the US Department of Education to do so. It, therefore, ultimately means that degrees obtained from accredited schools are recognized across the nation and are accepted as valid by employers.

2. Who are the recognized accreditation bodies?

The US Department of Education funds eight accreditation bodies. There are six regional accreditation (RA) bodies and two spin-offs of two of the six RA bodies.

These bodies are authorized to grant accreditations to schools falling within their specified regional jurisdictions.

These bodies are:

o the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont);

o the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia);

o the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Panama);

o the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming);

o the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (California, Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Pacific Basin, and East Asia); and,

o the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington).

The two spin-offs are:

o the Western Association's Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (see WICHE Best Practices), and,

o the North Central's Higher Learning Commission (see NCA Best Practices).

If your school is accredited by one of these eight (8) groups, which receive U.S. Dept. of Education funding and operate primarily by site visit-peer review, then you need not worry -- your school has the best accreditation there is.

3. Are there other accreditation bodies?

There are other accreditation bodies and many online schools proudly advertise that they are accredited by one or the other of these bodies. But these so-called accrediting bodies are themselves not accredited so that their accreditations are not worth the paper they are written on.

Out of all these other accrediting bodies there are some that are simply blacklisted and not recognized while there are others that may be accepted as valid in 30 per cent of the organizations that matter. Employers, on the other hand, are likely to reject outright degrees given by schools accredited by these other agencies.

4. Is there a list of blacklisted schools or a list of schools whose degrees are not recognized?

Yes, at present there are two such lists. One list has been prepared by the state of Michigan and another prepared by the state of Oregon. Employers use these lists to check whether a particular degree from a particular school is worthless or not.

5. Is accreditation a really important issue?

Yes! It is the most important issue when you are deciding which criminal justice school you should enroll in. If the school you enroll in is not accredited, then the degree that you earn after spending a lot of money and effort will not be worth the paper it is written on. You will be a sucker of the worst kind!

Jim Greenberg recommends you visit the Online Criminal Justice Degree Guide for more information on online criminal justice school accreditation [http://www.ocjdg.com/2006/02/is_an_accredite.html].