How to find out if your school applied for regional accreditation.

Is there a way to verify if your college has applied for regional accreditation?

 

Do you mean a DETC school?

 

Re: Re: How to find out if your school applied for regional accreditation.

Yes.

 

The American Public University System is DETC accredited and a candidate for North Central Association's Higher Learning Commission (RA) accreditation.

Western Governors University has both DETC and regional accreditation.

The universities from South Africa and Australia have accreditation equal to RA and have added DETC.

The rest of the DETC schools have not indicated that they are candidates for regional accreditation.

Ashworth College is a cost effective DETC school, but would have an extremely difficult task requiring a major overhaul to attain candidacy for SACS (RA) accreditation.

 

Someone in the Ashworth student services department told me this morning that Ashworth is working on SACS accreditation for their degree programs. I didn't want to receive this at face value. So what you're saying is that I shouldn't get too excited about this.

 

I would speak to someone at the college very high up to verify. I would check with SACS to confirm the information. If this is all true, and I would be surprised if it was... It is going to be a very long time until and even if they were ever successful.

Again, don't take my word. Check into the information. Personally however, I wouldn't get too excited about it.

 

Unlike some of the other regional accreditors, SACS includes 'applicants' in their listings, along with candidates and fully accredited schools.

So when and if Ashworth applies, SACS will announce it.

Does Ashworth offer conventional classroom-based courses, or is it 100% DL? My understanding is that SACS is very reluctant to accredit totally DL schools. Several DL schools located in the SACS territory had to move when they sought RA, most recently American Military University which moved from Virginia (SACS) to the eastern edge of West Virginia not far away (NCA).

 

Locate the physical address of the school. Determine which regional accreditor covers that state. Ask the regional accreditor.

You could also ask the school itself.

 

Bill,
Ashworth is an extension of PCDI. PCDI offers an online college prep high school program through James Madison High School that has accreditation through SACS. Would this make any difference for Ashworth in an application process for accreditation? In other words, would it make it any less complicated for them? Excuse me for my ignorance on this topic. I'm just trying to understand the process. Thanks.

 

Actually, Ashworth is owned by PCDI.

You're reading my mind. As I was reading this thread, I thought to myself, "but at least Ashworth has had some prior success with SACS -- and they know one another -- on account of James Madison High School's SACS accreditation."

But a regional accreditor's high school group is sometimes as if it's not even in the same building or city as the higher education group. Ashworth's relationship with SACS on account of JMHS's regional accreditation through SACS may not mean all that much. Or it may... who knows. One thing for sure: I wouldn't hold my breat waiting for Ashworth to get RA. If you pursue your Ashworth AA or AS at even a part-time pace, you'll still be long finished with it by the time Ashworth gets fully regionally-accredited... if that ever even happens.

It's far more likely, it seems to me, that Ashworth would be able to get its masters programs RA before their AA or AS programs were... but that's just a hunch.

I sympathize with you, azuzaheart... and can easily see what's going on here... that is, if this and your other posts in other threads herein are any indication. It's fairly clear that you're committed to the Ashworth AA or AS degree (probably for its ease of administration and its price competitiveness... which are two perfectly reasonable reasons), but you're hoping against hope that you'll have no problems with getting it accepted by most any or all RA BA/BS programs out there so you can move on to the next step.

There may be no easy answer to that one. If you're just now starting your Ashworth AA or AS, and if you take the full two years to finish it, that's two more years down the road... and that may be long enough that another bunch of RA BA/BS programs become more DETC-friendly. Things do change. Just go back to 2002 or 2000 and see how much things have changed in only those three to five years. You only need to find one good BA/BS program that will take your Ashworth credits, and you're on your way. And, honestly, I just don't think you're really going to have that many problems when it finally comes right down to it... especially if you recognize the Ashworth AA or AS's deficiency in the area of good, old-fashioned, basic, core general education classes. And I think your strategy, as you expressed in another thread, of getting those general education courses from another source alongside your Ashworth AA or AS (either by CLEPing out of them or actually taking the classes) might just do it... especially if the classes taken are from RA schools.

An Ashworth AA or AS, accompanied by the roughly 12 hours or so of general education coursework from an RA D/L school, might actually look pretty good as requisite to a great many RA BA/BS program heads.

I think you're starting to panic, azuzaheart. Go look at some RA AA/AS programs out there. Pay special attention to the general education credits -- which departements they come from and what their coursenames are. Most colleges show the hours needed (i.e., a certain number of hours of English, a certain number of math, a certain number of humanities, etc.), and which of their courses will fulfill those requirements. Make a chart or table and figure out what kinds of courses and coursenames you'd have to take in addition to your Ashworth AA/AS in order for most RA BA/BS programs to agree that you've got adequate general education coursework. Figure out which CLEP exams would cover certain of them (actually, you should be able to CLEP out of all of them). Then try to take as many that you don't CLEP out of from the least expensive RA schools you can find... like LSU, for example, among others. Again... all the while continuing your Ashworth studies as usual.

If, at the end of two years (or maybe three, if that's how long it takes you), you have completed all of the Ashworth AA or AS classes and have been awarded your degree; and if you also have a combination of CLEP exams and classes from an RA school to cover the 12 or so hours of good, old-fashioned, basic general education coursework that a typical Ashworth AA/AS sort of lacks, the I'll bet dollars to donuts that you'll have an easier time of it getting into a decent RA BA/BS program than you now think... in part because if you had that Ashworth AA/AS plus those 12 hours that I mentioned a moment ago, you'll be more attractive, generally, as a BA/BA student than I think you now believe; and in part because another two or three years will have passed and another two or three years worth of RA BA/BS programs will be more DETC-friendly.

That's just my opinion, mind you. But that's how I'd advise you if you asked me... which you didn't, of course. But that's how I'd do it.

Once again, there's no substitute for contacting the RA BA/BS program you'd like to enter and just starting to talk to them. As advised in the other thread, you may hit a brick wall at first -- especially when you talk with the front-line admissions people. But get beyond them to the program head and start a dialog. You may find that you're in better shape than you think.

 

Keep in mind, too, that "working on" regional accreditation is meaningless... and the regionals frown on any school making any representation about the status of regional accreditation application prior to candidacy (perhaps with the exception of SACS announcement of schools that have applied.)

Westbrook University, one of my personal favorite unwonderfuls, is a good example. They have been claiming since about 1996 that they were "working on" regional accreditation. They can work as hard as they want, because they haven't a snowball's chance in hell of getting it, near as anyone can tell.

At one point, Rushmore University (operated out of the basement of its founder in Atlanta, but claimed to operate from various states and small sovereign islands), was claiming that it had applied for, and was going to receive, regional accreditation. Once it was pointed out to them that this was a fraudulent claim, they amended their offerings. Now, 5+ years later, no such claim is made on their website.

So.... while it *can* mean something, it may also mean "We've thought about picking up the phone and getting an application packet", or "We got an application packet and figured out that we'll never get it", or something of that sort. Just be careful.

 

Education Direct is a candidate through the Middle States Association.

I agree with both parts of this sentence.

Tony

P.S. I also agree with Gregg's main point, that you will be able to gain entry into an RA program with an Ashworth degree plus additional GE credits. In fact, I have to believe you could find an RA program without earning the additional credits. But, and this is mainly for others reading these threads, if you have your heart set on a particular program (be it RA, AACSB, your local public U, et cetera), get that programs acceptance before you enroll in a nationally accredited school. (Of course, I don't personally see any need to get one's heart set on a particular program. Choice is one of the beautiful things about DL.)

 

Me neither... just categorically, I mean.