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Welcome to DEAC

The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1926 that operates as an institutional accreditor of distance education institutions. Accreditation by DEAC covers all distance education activities within an institution and it provides accreditation from the secondary school level through professional doctoral degree-granting institutions. DEAC’s geographic area of accreditation activities includes all states within the United States and international locations. Our website is designed to be a resource for all those interested in distance education accreditation: students, faculty, administrators and the public.

Media & Updates

Webinars

Annual Report Enhancements January 2026

This webinar provides instructions for DEAC-accredited institutions completing the 2026 Annual Report using their 2025 data. Jess Lucey, Dr. Ray Rodriguez, and Dr. Debra Woods describe updates to the online annual report submission portal in a step-by-step walkthrough of each section. The video includes a deep dive on determining the correct cohort of students to use in reporting program outcomes, explanation of new data requests such as units completed and FTE faculty and students, and how DEAC analyzes and uses the data received.

Featured

Centennial Conference and Gala

DEAC’s Centennial Conference and Gala is April 19-21, 2026!

News

DEAC Publishes Revised Standards

DEAC is pleased to announce that the revised Part Three, Standards of Accreditation, DEAC Accreditation Handbook, are now available for review ahead of January 1, 2025, when the standards go into effect.

AQC is an external review system carried out by a network of higher education curriculum experts. Although it is not accreditation, AQC engages a peer review process designed to provide meaningful, relevant feedback to distance education providers consistent with the principles of accreditation. The DEAC is committed to supporting innovations that continue to emerge and evolve in various online delivery systems by contributing its expertise and experience in evaluating online content that is presented for AQC review and by experimenting with ways to expand the availability of high quality online learning.

DEAC is pleased to announce its first workshop series in collaboration with the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AIIcOE). This three-session, quick-start series–grounded in the five principles of the AIICOE framework as envisioned by founders Juan Antonio Henriquez and Dr. Matthew Gonzalez and the practical AI strategy and implementation experience of three diverse DEAC institutions–will empower academic and administrative staff to use the five AIICOE principles to co-design a campus-ready AI roadmap.