What is accredited/accreditation? Accreditation protects the student and ensures that they are receiving a quality education from an established, reputable school. Accreditation is a voluntary peer review process that identifies and acknowledges educational programs and/or institutions for achieving and maintaining a high level of quality, performance and integrity based on educational and professional standards. Accreditation goes far above and well beyond the State of Iowa approval process which is essentially an application and fee based process.

Why do we choose Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA) as our accreditation agency? COMTA is the ONLY accreditation agency that dictates massage therapy curriculum. This is extremely important to us since we are educating massage therapist!

Carlson College of Massage Therapy is Iowa’s first COMTA accredited school and less than 1% of schools nationwide meet the rigorous standards and chose to be COMTA accredited. COMTA is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education allowing us to offer federal financial aid.

We want to make certain that our students know that quality of education matters to us. We are not just training you for a profession, we are educating you to become a professional. The standards we adhere to with COMTA ensure that we are holding the profession of massage therapy to the level that it needs to be. For more information about COMTA, visit their website at www.comta.org.

Some states, like Arizona, require that applicants for licensure have graduated from an accredited program. Keep all your options open by attending an accredited program!

Benefits of accreditation

* Protects the student to ensure a quality educational program.

* Gives the student a level of recourse if they are unhappy with their education or the admissions process.

* Helps educators increase the quality and performance of massage and bodywork programs.

* Increases program quality as faculty, staff and students participate in the self-study process and clarify the important role each plays.

* Provides universal recognition of program quality, often by professional organizations, which may increase recruitment potential.

* Enhances the reputation of the program/school in its local community.