DETC candidates for accreditation

Does DETC make this information available or is there another avenue to obtain it? I e-mailed DETC but no response yet.

 

Try here:

Hi

Distance Education and Training Council: Applicant Schools

Only two names on the list, it appears. (They don't put applicants on the list until they've passed an initial "readiness assessment.")
AFAIK, there is only "applicant" status with DETC. "Candidate" seems to be one of them there $10 RA words, meaning basically an "applicant" who's far along in the process!
For some reason, Nations University does not seem to be on this list, although the best info I have is that Nations is still pursuing DETC accreditation. Am I wrong (again? )

Johann

 

Two others - no longer appear.

Hi again

If you go to the DETC site and read through the last Accreditor's Meeting (June 2010) you'll find there were two other schools listed as applicants at that time:

Clayton College of Natural Health. (Since ceased operating.)
Trinity (Newburgh) I have no idea what, if anything, happened here.

Johann

 

IMO, this understates RA "Candidate" status. Unlike DETC, which has no candidacy status, the RA version is a very thing. It means the school has done what it needs to do to be accredited, but the RA will watch for awhile. Demonstrating the significance of the Candidate status, in most situations, degrees awarded by Candidate schools are treated as those awarded by accredited schools.

Not so with DETC, of course.

 

The RA agencies do not award "Candidate" status unless they are confident that a school will eventually achieve full accreditation. As stated in the previous post, a school that achieves RA "Candidate" status (also known as "preaccreditation") is typically regarded as equivalent to a fully RA school, as far as degrees and credits are concerned.

But that isn't the only important consequence. From the US Dept. of Education perspective, a school that achieves RA "Candidate" status qualifies for Federal financial aid programs:

The RA agencies (and many professional accreditation agencies) are accepted as both "accreditors" and "preaccreditors" by USDoE. So a school that achieves "Candidate" status with an RA agency gets USDoE recognition, even before full accreditation is achieved.

DETC, on the hand, is accepted as an "accreditor" by USDoE, but not as a "preaccreditor". A school that is in the process of earning DETC accreditation only gets USDoE recognition after full accreditation is achieved (not before).

 

Thanks!

Hi

Thanks, Rich and CalDog, for greatly increasing my understanding of RA Candidate Status. I had an inkling that a school wasn't a "Candidate" until accreditation was a pretty sure thing - but no idea that a Candidate school was actually "pre-accredited," could award degrees and qualify for Federal aid programs, in much the same manner as it would do post-accreditation.

I appreciate your guidance. Thanks again.

Johann

 

The list of institutions seeking accreditation here:
Distance Education and Training Council: Applicant Schools
American Center for Excellence in Surgical Assisting, Greenwood Village, CO
Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary, Newburgh, IN

Doesn't match the list in their latest Report from the Accrediting Commission here:
http://detc.org/downloads/publications/No.%206%20-%20Report%20from%20AC.pdf
Clayton College of Natural Health, Birmingham, AL
Nations University, West Monroe, LA
Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary, Newburgh, IN

So, one of these two is incorrect. Or the list changed very quickly after they issued their report. Nations is still in the report but not listed on the website. I would normally say to email them to ask, but it sounds like TJ has already done so and not received any response.

 

It's apparently quite easy to submit an initial application to DETC. However, DETC's current policy is to avoid listing the names of applicants on their website until they have completed a successful "Readiness Assessment". My guess is that Clayton and Nations did submit initial applications (and were therefore listed in the Accrediting Commission report), but haven't yet passed the "Readiness Assessment" (and therefore are not listed on the website).

The American Center for Excellence in Surgical Assisting may have been "fast-tracked" into the "Readiness Assessment" stage, because they already have CHEA-recognized accreditation (from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs).

 

This is a HUGE improvement for DETC, becasuse they used to have some real piece-of-crap schools applying for accreditation that seemed to go pretty far in the process before being rejected (and a few that got approved). The fact that Clayton got in the door at all is simply appalling, but the fact that DETC did actually reject them is encouraging. I'd like to believe it may have been, at least to a small extent, our constant nagging about that situation here, as well as formal complaints by other affected parties (legitimate naturopathic schools, for example.)

Now the one thing I think is still sort of stupid is that DETC never announces when a school is rejected. It's not like nobody can figure out what the deal is; when a school applies and then there's utter silence from DETC, you know it's been rejected, so they aren't fooling anyone. They might as well just be up front about it. But DETC has yet to be up front about much of anything so I'm not holding my breath.

 

They have a odd way of doing things that makes their process not helpful to the consumers who attend DETC schools. If your waiting to see if your school you want to attend is going to make it or has been rejected don't hold your breath.

 

That's what I think happened. The report describes actions taken at the June meeting. Then in July, Alabama newspapers reported that Clayton College of Natural Health was closing its doors and had laid off 30 of its 50 employees. (Clayton reportedly had 3,000 students.)

I'm just speculating, but my guess is that soon after the meeting DETC privately let Clayton know that it wasn't accreditable. The State of Alabama had previously passed a new state law requiring non-accredited schools to acquire recognized accreditation and had indicated that Clayton would be shut down if its DETC application wasn't successful.

So a list without Clayton is almost certainly subsequent to one that still includes it.

If the website is indeed the most current list, it would appear that Nations has fallen off the applicant list too.

 

Ok so I called someone in the know and was told Nations has completed the first section of the processes and are still in the running. That's all he could tell me. Anyone know what that means?

 

If it's true, then it could simply mean that Nations has not yet submitted all of the documentation that is required for DETC to make a decision. So their application is still in limbo. In particular, they may not yet have completed a successful "Readiness Assessment", and are therefore not shown on the DETC "Applicant List" web page.

For whatever reason, Nations is clearly way behind schedule as far as the accreditation process goes. In December 2008 the Provost stated:

 

I wouldn't trust anyone "in the know" in this circumstance unless it was someone at DETC. A school is certainly not going to be quick to announce it's been rejected by DETC. If the person you spoke to was at Nations, s/he probably realizes that DETC (rightly) prohibits schools from making any public or formal statements that the school has applied, is in candidacy, etc.

 

Yes they are way behind. They should have it now or should be close. I know don't think they willl get it in 2011 at this rate.

 

Does anyone here know for sure that Nations is in the running at least for DETC accreditation or in the process? Is it going to be accredited for Master's as well as Bachelors, etc...? I'm probably going to apply there either way, but it would be good to know that they are at least trying!! I looked on DETC's website and I cannot find them anywhere.
Thanks guys!

 

I think they will get someday but I'm changing my tune and saying it's going to be sometime before they do.

 

Nations University could lead the way, it would be great to offer secular degrees for $100 a year for just handling the records and volunteers running the schools. If it gets DETC accreditation.

 

Don't be surprised if....

Hi

I guess it's a matter of conjecture at the moment - whether Nations is still pursuing DETC accreditation or not. Since they applied quite a long time ago, I would have thought the school would have been done with the "readiness assessment" long before now. It's a DARN good school and I'm sure there are no academic issues that would be a barrier to accreditation. Must be something else.

If Nations does eventually achieve DETC accreditation, I doubt if the continuing expenses that come with that status will permit them to keep fees anywhere NEAR the $100 per year level. I'm not just talking about initial and continuing fees to the accreditor. I mean library, facilities, professors etc. and the expenses in those areas mandated by accreditation standards. By way of example, tuition at California Miramar U. increased from $80-odd a credit hour to about $155 immediately upon DETC accreditation. Sure, that's a for-profit school, but I can't see how Nations is going to avoid charging something substantial, 'WAY over $100 per year if they have to spend money the way accreditation usually demands of a school.

I'm sure that the powers-that-be at Nations have long realized the full extent of expenditure necessitated by accreditation. Maybe, in view of that, they're pausing to take another look at the process. Of course, I could be wrong (again. )

Johann

 

Secular degrees?

Thomas Kolter -

Did I read you right? "It would be great to offer SECULAR degrees for $100 a year?"

Nations is a religious school. I doubt you'll ever see Nations teaching SECULAR degrees of any kind, at any price, with or without DETC. The volunteers educate future ministers and religious scholars...that's it.

Human nature being what it is, I can't see how we're ever gonna see a volunteer-staffed university - at least on this side of the planet - to educate aspiring history teachers, mathematicians, I.T. gurus etc.

Secular degrees at $100 a year? Yeah, right! Lead on, Thomas...

Johann