Can you put "Dr." before your name even if your doctorate degree comes from a distance learning institution?

Question

The school is not accredited by any international body.

Answer 1

I could put "Nobel Prizewinner" before my name, and even if I did really win the Nobel prize, people would just think I was a jerk for advertising it.

In my decades of experience in academia, the only people who regularly use "Dr." before their names are medical doctors. Those of us who earned doctorates in other fields usually don't use the honorific that way. It looks silly and pretentious.

I only put "Ph.D." after my name when absolutely necessary -- for instance, in contexts where I am asked to supply my academic credentials.

The validity of your degree from an unaccredited institution is another question altogether. Here's my opinion, with which you and others are free to disagree: If the institution through which you earned this degree is not regionally accredited (international accreditation is meaningless), and if you did not study under the direction of accomplished scholars with international reputations in your field, then you didn't earn a "real" doctoral degree, and claiming to hold one is ethically problematic.

In other words, a Ph.D. is not a piece of paper you own. It is an acknowledgment that internationally recognized experts in a particular field of study have guided your studies, have evaluated your original work, and have deemed you a peer. The degree itself is conferred by a university, and that university is comprised of a community of scholars who have recognized the value of your work. That's what matters.

Answer 2

I would be more concerned if the college were accredited by a regional accrediting association.

The doctorate is bestowed upon the candidate by his/her professors. So, of course it's possible.