School Applied for WASC accreditation-how does it effect a degree in process

Hi there.
I am interested in getting a doctorate in clinical psychology (PsyD) for non-licensure reasons (I'm an author). I am already licensed in my state as a Marriage & Family Therapist.

I was looking a two different schools:
ryokan which is a $12K 1 year program

and CalSouthern which is a $28K 2 year program

Both are approved by my licensing board to offer degrees. The Ryokan program seemed like a no brainer until i learned that:

Cal Southern has applied for, and is a couple of years in the process of its WASC accreditation. Does anyone know if I start the program and then it becomes accredited would my degree be from an accredited institution-or do you have to star AFTER a school gains accreditation?

 

It is my understanding that if the school is accredited at the time of your graduation then, in fact, your degree is from an accredited institution. We have heard of cases where students have taken a leave of absence from school so as to delay their graduation for just this reason.

 

You are taking a gamble on future accreditation. Nothing is set in stone.

 

P.s.

Go for a degree that is regionally accredited. That is the best choice.

 

Regional accreditation is typically a long process. 2 to 4 years to reach Candidacy and another 2 to 4 years for accreditation is not uncommon. While there is theoretically a 7-year limit on years of candidacy, this has been waived; Union was a candidate for something like 10 or 12 years.

I am aware of more than a few cases of people delaying completion of their doctorate because they believed, rightly or wrongly, that their school was pretty close to getting it.

The two things one cannot do, AFAIK, are
1. Complete a doctorate before accreditation, then take a few additional courses after accreditation to upgrade the degree. (Some nationally-accredited schools used to do this, but not regionally accredited ones).
2. Transfer a large number of credits from the unaccredited school into an accredited one, to complete the degree.

 

Thank you so much for your feedback. The WASC site visit is 4//15/15.

 

That depends on when the school gets its accreditation. If regional accreditation comes while you're still in school, you have a regionally accredited degree. If regional accreditation does not come until after you've graduated, you will not have a regionally accredited degree.

 

What if the school becomes candidate for WASC accreditation first?
I read mixed opinion that candidates that reached final accreditation are handled as accredited.
I mean the degree granted during the candidacy and later school becomes accredited then degree considered from accredited university.

 

I think it boils down to the date that the accreditor provides as the "start" date is what matters. I know in the case of CCNE (Nursing) that if a program becomes accredited then all students who were enrolled at the time of the first site visit are considered to have graduated from an accredited program. This again is a Programmatic and not Regional Accreditation. It's an interesting distinction to say the least.

I suspect in most cases that unless HR or whomever is really down deep in the details a cursory check is simply done to see if the school is accredited at that point in time. If it comes back as "yes" then 99.999999999% of the time no one will check the precise dates.

YMMV.

 

They say that they are having their second site visit by WASC this april (2015). Does anyone know if that means that they are close to finishing the process?

 

You can drive yourself crazy trying to wait for accreditation actions. Believe me, I was there. Last year around this time I was wrapping up my M.S.M at the University of Management and Technology. I was also noticing that according to the (then) DETC's website, UMT's accreditation "expired" a month earlier. I went through old accreditation actions trying to piece together what was happening. Then I discovered that UMT kept having its accreditation renewal deferred for 1-2 year periods. What did that mean? In the end, my worries amounted to nothing. I finished my program. UMT had its accreditation renewed until 2017.*

If I read this correctly there is likely much more to come before a decision is made. This doesn't establish a timeline. I think that's because there really is no timeline. The school may be accredited. It may not. They may be granted accreditation with little difficulty or they may get strung along for years. Neither route has a definite outcome.

* During this period of paranoia, I contacted DETC by phone and asked what would happen to me if UMT lost its accreditation. They assured me of two things: 1) schools didn't just lose accreditation without notice. A show cause would be issued before accreditation was rescinded and 2) enrolled students were able to complete their programs either through another school (who DETC would presumably find to accept the credits of the closing school) or allow you to finish your program through a teach out plan. They said the latter would result in receiving an accredited degree even if completed after the school formally lost its accreditation. How that would be communicated to employers and future schools (given the fact that your diploma date would be after the date of the loss of accreditation) I have no idea. I realize this isn't the case being referred to here, but I just thought it was a neat tidbit I could pass along.

 

CalSouthern is now regionally accredited

California Southern University just announced that they are now accredited by WASC.

 

Are you going to necromance every Cal Southern U. thread? Because, if so, there are some SCUPS threads that might be interesting.

 

Your fixation with 'SCUPS' is fascinating Rich, might be time to move on already!

 

I smell an agenda.

I have more than 10,000 posts, almost none of them having to do with SCUPS. You have 7, all about SCUPS. Who's fixated again?

 

I concur... :cool2: