Candidate = Accredited?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by emmzee, Aug 15, 2012.

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  1. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    I happened upon the Veritas Evangelical Seminary website today and decided to check out their accreditation page. This is a new seminary started by (in part) Norman Geisler after leaving his former school, Southern Evangelical Seminary.

    Anyways, their accreditation page states:

    This quote makes it sound like Veritas is already accredited, the only indication that there's something different is the word "Candidate" which likely would be missed by someone just skimming the statement. But my understanding was that candidacy is exactly that: Candidate to become accredited, not already accredited. The TRACS accreditation manual seems to suggest this too. Basically I'm just interested in knowing whether the above statement is true or not, especially whether it's accurate to say that an institution which is only in candidate status is "recognized" by the USDE and CHEA?
     
  2. scottae316

    scottae316 New Member

    No, being a candidate means that they look like they will meet all the standards for full accreditation, they have 5 years to do so. TRACS states this on their website, although I can't remember where. I agree that a quick skimming may be a problem for someone, but they should do more than skimming if they are looking to complete a Master's Degree.
     
  3. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    In order to qualify for federal financial aid, a school has to be accredited by a USDoE-approved agency. Everybody knows that.

    But there's another point that is not as well known. In some cases, the school does not have to be fully accredited -- the USDoE will recognize "preaccredited" or "candidate" schools as well. However, only certain accreditation agencies are authorized to "preaccredit" schools.

    You can see a list of USDoE-approved agencies here. If you look through this list, you will see that USDoE has authorized the following agencies to "pre-accredit" schools:

    - the 6 regional accreditation agencies
    - the Council on Occupational Education (COE)
    - TRACS

    So a school in "candidacy" status with COE or TRACS qualifies as "pre-accredited" with USDoE, and therefore also qualifies for federal financial aid. A school in candidacy status with other NA agencies, like DETC or ACICS, would not.

    I don't know why COE and TRACS are the only national accreditation agencies that are authorized to pre-accredit schools. COE was originally part of SACS, a regional agency, and so possibly it held preaccreditation authority through SACS before it became a separate agency.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 15, 2012
  4. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    If you search the USDoE database for "Veritas", it shows up in the database as a TRACS pre-accredited institution. So it has USDoE recognition.

    But if you search the CHEA database for "Veritas", there are no hits. CHEA apparently does not recognize TRACS candidate schools, although USDoE does.

    *****

    Just for comparison, I looked for "International Technological University", which is currently a candidate for regional accreditation with WASC, in the USDoE and CHEA databases. It showed up as a WASC candidate in both databases. So CHEA apparently recognizes RA candidate schools, but not TRACS candidate schools.
     
  5. RAM PhD

    RAM PhD Member

    The excerpt posted in the OP clearly identifies the Veritas as holding "candidate status" with TRACS, so I'm not sure how that could be misconstrued as being "already accredited" or "fully accredited." Candidate status in most all contexts implies, not full accreditation, but pre-accreditation. The excerpt states that TRACS, not Veritas, is recognized by the USDE/CHEA.
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    DETC doesn't have candidacy. Applicants for DETC accreditation have no status until they're actually accredited.
     
  7. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I am friends with one of the professors that teaches there and he has nothing but good things to say about the school.
     
  8. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    For RA agencies, a school goes through three steps in the accreditation process:

    1. As an "Applicant"
    2. As a "Candidate"
    3. As a fully accredited school.

    "Applicant" status is meaningless -- any school, regardless of reputation, is free to submit an application and become an "Applicant".

    But "Candidate" status is a major step, and it does mean something. A school has go undergo a lot of review to achieve "Candidate Status" with an RA agency. The RA agencies won't upgrade a school from "Applicant" to "Candidate", unless they are convinced that the school is probably going to make it to fully accredited status. This is why the USDoE accepts RA Candidate schools as "preaccredited" for financial aid purposes.

    Maybe TRACS works in the same way. If so, then there is nothing deceptive or misleading about advertising "Candidate" status. It is a positive development, it qualifies the school for USDoE recognition, and it implies that full accreditation is probable in the future.

    You are correct, it looks like DETC schools go directly from "Applicant" status to "Fully Accredited" status, without an intermediate "Candidate" step. That could explain why DETC is not authorized to "preaccredit" schools by USDoE -- they don't have a "preaccreditation" step.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 15, 2012

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