DETC-accredited school closings...

Has a DETC accredited school ever shut down and left current students out in the cold?

 

I don't know but there have been RA schools that did this (although earned credits could be transferred).

 

Ah, you took the words right out of my mouth. I agree with Steve as well.

Abner

 

AICS (American Institute for Computer Science) wile unaccredited had really bad reputation, their BS in Comp Science was equated with 2 semesters of work in traditional university. They made significant changes and gained DETC accreditation under new name ICSIS or something like that.

They are no longer appear as DETC accredited, I can't find them.
So they most likely no longer exist.

I don't know what happened to the students.

It appears that maybe some one still sells degrees by the old unaccredited name AICS :

http://www.sourcedata.com/500/000177.html

 

After having merged with another university, ACIS is now known as American Sentinel University and they are still DETC accredited.

 

Canadian School of Management is one. (They're going to have quite a lopng listing in my posthumous edition! They got their degree-granting 'authorization' from the essentially non-existent Northland Open University, a P O Box in Whitehorse, Yukon, owned by the same guy.

The earliest DETC website available through the Wayback Machine is 1996, when they accredited a grand total of 17 degree-granting schools:
American Academy of Nutrition
American College of Prehospital Medicine
American Military University
Atlantic University
Berean University
California College for Health Sciences
Catholic Distance University
Cleveland Institute of Electronics
Grantham College of Engineering
Griggs University
ICI University
ICS Center for Degree Studies
Institute of Physical Therapy
International School of Information Management (ISIM)
NRI Schools
Peoples College
World College

So that's half the research. Someone else can figure out how many of those are still around. Some probably merged, at least one name change: ISIM to Aspen.

 

Thanks Dr. Bear

I was wandering what happened to ACCIS, though they went out of business now I know they are part of Sentinel.

I copied the following from Sentinel wen site.

 

West Cost University in Los Angeles lost WASC RA accreditation, went out of business in the late 90's.
The students for number of years had hard time to obtain records, some records were lost.

Then a new University by the same name opened in CA, they got approval and later gained DETC accreditation, unlike the old West Coast that had many departments and faculties the new school concentrated on health care and management. I think they actually purchased the records for 7 years initially. Today they have the right to use WCU name and date of establishment goes all the way to the old WCU instead of 200X.

At some point they agreed to handle the records for the closed RA WCU.
Some fake and closed college diploma sales sites used to charge 150 USD for the old closed WCU degree diploma. athey even displayed a sample on their web site.
This caused legitimate WCU CA graduates additional problems.

Today most of the old WCU can obtain records from the DETC accredited WCU in CA.

Dr. Bear knows more about this.

 

If a school shuts down -- which does happen -- then the consequences may depend more on state licensing laws than on the accreditation agency (RA, DETC, etc).

States with tougher school licensing laws may have rules to deal with this possibility. They may require schools to post bonds as a condition of licensure, and to ensure the proper transfer of student records (to the state, or to some other school) in the event of closure.

Other states have relatively loose school licensing laws. In this case, schools may simply disappear and former students may be out of luck.

Some states, like Oklahoma, attempt to at least keep track of closed schools and the availability of records. In Oklahoma, full records are still available for many closed schools, but only partial records exist for others, and some have no surviving records at all.

 

re West Coast University accreditation

West Coast University is a senior university accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) to award Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. http://www.westcoastuniversity.edu/uploadedFiles/20_Admissions/WCU2010-2011%20-%201st%20Edition%2010042010.pdf?n=5075

 

I should have type NA instead of DETC.

They are using the name of the older West Coast University, its possible they purchased the name as well. The once that closed in 1998 offered certificate and degrees through evening and weekend study at locations in Southern CA.

Dr. Bear reports, in Bears' Guide 14ed, that As of 1998, the phone had been disconnected, and Internet links were no longer active.

Link to old discussion

http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/1853-west-coast-university.html