New Tuition Fee System

The accredited Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences,
not a DE school at all, has a fascinating (to me, anyway) tuition fee system.
This year, their Doctor of Naturopatic Medicine is on offer for $18.57... per
contact hour. Of course, there's no shortage of contact hours in a
credible program in any helping profession, and SCNM's ND would take
absolutely no small change. Still, this is the first school I've seen trying it this way,
and an intriguing paradigm shift you have to wonder whether anybody else might follow...

 

You've picqued my interest, so please pardon my stupidity. What, precisely, constitutes "contact".

 

Some nitpicking...

The Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences Web site states "Southwest College is accredited by the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education, the accrediting agency for naturopathic colleges and programs in the United States and Canada."

The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education may be well regarded by naturopathic institutions -- but as far as I can tell, it is not recognized by the US Department of Education or by CHEA.

The accreditation info on the Web site also states that Southwest "is a candidate for accreditation with The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools" and invites the public to submit comments ... which "must be received by July 31, 2001." (fire up the Wayback machine, Sherman.)

 

Interesting... it was...
http://www.degree.net/guides/gaap_listings.html
http://www.ed.gov/NLE/USNEI/us/accred-recog_associations.html

But then - it's not in CHEA, and the asterix at
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/Students/closedschool/accred.html#C
"indicates a name change or otherwise not approved accrediting agency." Hmm.

It's listed on at least some older documents at the Department:
http://www.ed.gov/search/searchResList.jsp?st=0&colParam=ED&lk=1&qt=council+on+naturopathic+medical+education

Did it drop out of recognition, or lose it?

 

CNME had USOE recognition, but lost their appeal in 2001. CNME is still operating.

 

*just reading about it now* Oh!
http://www.google.com/search?q=CNME+department+of+education&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&meta=

 

...but then, the top results in the search I just posted are squabbling from the infinitely less credible "American Naturopathic Medical Certification and Accreditation Board," which hawks pathetic "board certification" to graduates of the Clayton and Westbrook class of school. *sigh, wondering if anyone else could step in the lurch*