Regional accreditation is the highest form of accreditation a school can boast because these accrediting bodies set the bar at the highest level of quality. Being regionally accredited means an entire school, with all its programs, has been deemed acceptable by a regional body, which in turn has been deemed acceptable by the U.S. department of education. Also, with a degree from a regionally accredited institution, students can more easily transfer from school to school.

National accrediting organizations, like regional ones, focus on reviewing and accrediting entire institutions. That means one college, having business, education, and a health sciences programs, will get an accrediting umbrella over all programs the school offers. National accredited schools are judged by the standards set at the national level. These the standards are set high, in order to uphold the authority of education, and are specified to judge institutions that offer specialized degrees, rather than the more broad spanning education offered through a regionally accredited institution. For example, a health sciences school will be most likely nationally accredited, rather than regionally accredited. Likewise, a liberal arts college offering 50 different bachelor's degrees is mostly like regionally accredited, rather than nationally accredited.