By Gary Eaton, LMT

For many, choosing the right massage school is a challenging proposition.  Deciding which one is going to work best for you can be difficult as you weight all of the pros and cons of each of the massage schools and the massage programs they offer.

In your quest to determine which school will work best for you, you will need to compare the schools based on many aspects, including costs, schedules, programs offered, how long the program takes to complete, and many others.  One thing you need to take a close look at is whether the massage school is accredited.

What Is Accreditation?

Accreditation is when a massage school has distinguished itself by meeting or exceeding the standards of educational quality set forth by licensing organizations.  This is important because is means the school has opened itself up to an outside accrediting agency and allowed them to assess the school based on various criteria.

Some of the criteria the accrediting agencies look at when assessing massage schools include; the educational quality of the institution, the consistency of the institutional operations, institutional improvements and provisions for public accountability.

Attending a massage school that is accredited is important for many reasons.  One of the biggest is that some states won’t award a massage therapist a license unless they have completed a certain amount of training from an accredited institution.  This means that you could attend an excellent massage school and take the required amount of classroom hours and complete the necessary courses required, but since the state doesn’t recognize the institution as accredited it won’t count.  The result is the state won’t issue you a license to practice.

By attending an accredited massage school you insure that you are receiving training from an institution that has a massage program that meets the recognized academic standards set by that state.  It also means that the massage school’s staff are professionals, the facilities are sufficiently equipped, and maybe most importantly, it means the institution is stable and will be a permanent fixture in the massage community.

There could be nothing worse than getting part-way through your massage school training only to have the school shut down.

One other thing to consider is financial aid.  In order for a massage student to get federal financial aid, they must be attending an accredited massage school.

When looking at prospective massage schools, make sure to check that they are accredited and approved by the state or states that you plan to practice in.  This will not only save you from major frustration down the road, but it will help provide confidence that you will be getting a quality education from a massage school that cares about the you and wants to be around for years to come.

Accreditation may seem like a small matter in the bigger picture of choosing a massage school, but making the mistake of going to a school that isn’t accredited may turn out to be a very costly choice.  Don’t make that mistake.  Be sure you attend a school that is accredited and recognized by the state in which you are planning on practicing massage.

Gary Eaton is a licensed massage therapist and writer living and working in Portland, Oregon. He manages a thriving therapeutic massage practice and is a featured writer for Massage Schools Guide.