For institutional accreditation, representatives from dedicated accrediting institutions evaluate Colleges and Universities. This is a means for Colleges and Universities to assess their own performance and compare themselves with other Higher Educational Institutions. If a school is awarded accreditation, it means that the institution meets certain standards of educational quality.

However, institutional accreditation is not necessarily a guarantee that credits will transfer between institutions, although it does make it far more likely. Students can check with the program to which they wish to transfer to see if credits will be accepted. Attending an accredited program carries numerous other benefits. Students at institutionally accredited organizations are eligible for federal financial aid, and employers are much more likely to recognize accredited degree programs. Furthermore, having undergone an accreditation process means that the institution meets a high standard of educational quality.

Institutional accreditation covers the institution as a whole, has quality standards that are usually broader and are rarely prescriptive in terms of specific ways in which an institution must show compliance, affects how easily students can transfer credit from institution to institution (a common example is a student who starts his or her post-secondary education at a community college, and later transfers to a three-year University), and it is managed by the institution’s Accreditation Liaison Officer, often the chief academic officer or head of institutional effectiveness