Please Help Me Understand Virginia, Wyoming Accreditation Standards

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by brandonruse, May 7, 2014.

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  1. brandonruse

    brandonruse New Member

    So, I have a goal in the future to build a university... I know, this seems far fetched but please help me understand the standards for accreditation in these two states. I'm already in process of putting together the business plan, creating course content, hiring faculty, and I'm trying to do this the right way. I've downloaded a copy of the HLC accreditation requirements and am going through that line by line making sure we comply with each of them.

    I'm wondering if I'm building a primarily distance-based university at first (and this I assure you will be no fly-by-night program or degree mill), which state is more advantageous to apply to (for approval to grant degrees) without a site visit? I believe it is Wyoming, correct? Because of the cached nature, I would like to be associated with Virginia but it might not really matter in the grand scheme of things.

    I am still in the development stages and the population I want to serve really needs educational opportunities and this isn't at all about making loads of profits. This would go the model of the University of Phoenix but without the for-profit focus. I'm almost finished with my medical degree and I want to give back to the population I've grown up as and I just am looking for some helpful information. Thank you so so much!

    I'm already drafting letters to the accreditation boards in these states to find information about each state's requirements but I thought I'd go to the source here.
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    First of all, you need to get your terminology right. Neither Wyoming nor Virginia accredit schools. (The only states that do, last time I checked, were New York and Indiana.) I think it is safe to say that if you have full compliance with HLC, and indeed enter into their process, you would be welcome in any state in the union.

    John Sperling was a semi-retired professor in northern California with a notion of offering continuing education classes to firefighters and others. Friends clucked sympathetically. The Western Association laughed in his face. So he packed up and moved to HLC country, and the University of Phoenix has made him a multi-billionaire.

    Go for it. Remember us in your will.
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Hi Brandon,

    I've participated in a Virginia state licensure (SCHEV) site visit firsthand, and (separately) hung out with a SCHEV evaluator at a distance learning conference. The process didn't appear to be that difficult. There's actually a surprisingly large industry of state licensed schools in Northern Virginia, many of which are started by immigrants and cater to foreigners.

    One thing, though. I think you would actually want to be here personally if you wanted to make a go of things locally. Actually, I think that would be true setting up in any state.
     
  4. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    Perhaps the first and biggest caution for a well-meaning, bootstrapping startup in this space is this: In accrediting agency requirements concerning financial resources, terms like "sufficient resources" give accreditors a whole lot of room to decline to accredit bootstrapping startups.

    Which of these are you asking: Whether you can get state approval to grant degrees
    • without the university having a site,
    • without you, presumably the chief executive, being based at the university's site in the state where its state approval to grant degrees comes from, or
    • without the state visiting the site?

    Do you mean cachet? If all else about the universities were equal, I don't believe an unaccredited state-authorized university in Virginia would have measurably better (or worse) cachet than an unaccredited state-authorized university in Wyoming. The bigger question in terms of cachet would be whether your school could be accredited sooner by the HLC which serves Wyoming, or by SACS which serves Virginia.

    Are you envisioning a non-profit, or a business that might earn a profit but that would focus less on immediate profit, more on social responsibility?
     
  5. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    Virginia has a certification process for private schools.

    The Private and Out-of-State Postsecondary Education (POPE) section of SCHEV is responsible for reviewing applications for initial certification from postsecondary institutions desiring to operate in Virginia, as well as processing annual recertification applications from postsecondary institutions currently certified to operate in Virginia.

    The POPE staff is charged with, but not limited to:

    Designing measures to ensure that all certified postsecondary educational institutions meet minimal academic standards;
    Ensuring certain consumer protections for students pursuing educational opportunities at the certified institutions; and
    Providing information to assist persons who rely on postsecondary degrees, diplomas, and certificates in judging the competence of the certified institutions and the individuals who complete programs of study at such institutions.
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That's true. Usually the financial requirements for a state license aren't off the chain, though, and either way it's something that one could find out in advance.

    I would be astonished if items one or three were possible, but would find item two on the edge of plausible.

    Agreed. Or, put another way, you can set up right across the street from the University of Virginia, but you'll never be Mr. Jefferson's university.

    Most people will emphatically say HLC here. But HLC isn't the honey badger that it used to be, and I don't think that SACS is necessarily as intractable as people think.
     

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