Accreditation and Your Interior Design Degree

If you are familiar with the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, formerly known as FIDER, you know that they are the organization that sets minimum standards for interior design degree programs in the United States and Canada. As of February 2008, there will be 148 interior design degree programs accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation. So what does it mean if an interior design program isn't accredited? Well, it's not necessarily a bad thing. According to the American Society of Interior Designers, a program may simply not yet have applied for accreditation. If you're interested in an interior design program that doesn't have accreditation approval, you can investigate the value of its education by examining the coursework, the credentials of the faculty, and the hiring potential and feedback from former students.