I knew of a case where this occurred in a traditional program. If you don't pass your comps you don't make it. When I was a masters student we had to submit a gob of paperwork and demonstrtate that we had made all of the requirements towards candidacy. When candidacy was approved we could advance towards writing the thesis. On the thesis there were several reviews and we had one chance for approval when the formal submission was made. If it was not approved we could not advance any further and graduate. I did have a scare with my candidacy status. My advisor who was also the Dean had my paperwork at his home and passed away. As such, the university did not have it and I was able to reconstruct everything from copies I had kept. One of my thesis readers also died so I was beginning to wonder if my thesis was "the kiss of death." John
I've posted this information before. The last DL school who was a candidate for accreditation and subsequently turned down was the International Graduate School Affiliated with the then-accredited World University in Puerto Rico, IGS was a candidate with the North Central Association. They lost their bid for accreditation and shut down around 1987. Before that you'd probably have to go to Prometheus College and Windsor University, both gone by 1980. I suspect this is all due to the regionals' hesitency to give candidacy to DL schools, fearing they would fail. The schools that received candidacy were probably stronger than their brick-and-mortar cousins. Passing the candidacy hurdle was the key. Jus' thinkin'.... Rich Douglas
I thought of this too but since it was an open-ended post I thought a discussion of degree candidacy would be a nice change of pace... John