What exactly is an online accredited course?

People in higher education have argued for years about whether or not there should be a single national board to give accreditation to U.S. colleges and universities. But a group of old, regional organizations which operate with little supervision decide which schools are valid and which are not. Their decisions are critical - as any job-seeker knows, trying to shop around a degree from a school that's not accredited won't get you very far in terms of employment. Here's a more in-depth article about how to figure out which online accredited courses are for real and which are fakes.