• Other schools accept your credits and the degree is valid.
• You qualify for government grants, loans and scholarships
• Employers accept the degree as valid

The primary and most important source of accreditation is called REGIONAL accreditation. The country is divided into 6 regions, each with its own accrediting body.

Schools like Yale, Harvard, Stanford, the University of each state, etc. are all regionally accredited. Anything less than regional accreditation is merely an invitation for trouble. 

Schools that have REGIONAL accreditation will accept credits from schools in all other parts of the country that have REGIONAL accreditation. Anything else is likely to cause you problems either with other schools (when you want to transfer or move on to graduate school), with employers, and in the qualification for government grants and loan programs.