Help! A job intervierwer wants proof that Excelsior is accredited .

I recently got a call back for a job that requires a bachelor’s degree. (I will be receiving my bachelors from Excelsior at the end of May.) The Personnel head said she wants to hire me but her boss needs proof that my upcoming degree is from accredited school. She says no one in her department ever heard of Excelsior College. My main question folks is how can I prove to my perspective boss that Excelsior is accredited? Please help!

 

This is an easy one: Accreditation can be verified by calling the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Higher Education at (215) 662–5606. If the person has web access, Excelsior is also listed on the Middle States web site here:
http://www.msache.org/direc11.asp

Good luck!


Cheers,

 

They can also search the institutional database of accredited institutions on the CHEA website: http://www.chea.org/institutions/index.cfm, or verify that Middle States is the appropriate accrediting agency at the Dept. of Education website:
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/accreditation/regionalagencies.html

It's good that the employer wants to check Excelsior's accreditation status. It's better that they check and verify your degree than accepting a fake one with a familiar sounding name.

 

Hopefully the empoyer checks on all degrees (particularly after they find out how easy it is) rather than rely on "I haven't heard of them before". I wouldn't want them to allow a "Columbia State University" or something similar to slip through simply because it *sounds* more like a legitimate college than Excelsior.

 

he-he This thread is reminding me of the threads here that originally discussed Excelsior's name change.

 

Recruiters need to get some training on Accreditation.

 

Excelsior should demand these same HR people prove they can even recognize proof of accreditation before Excelsior provides such proof.

With people like those, you'll either be running that place in no time or you'll quit because it's frustrating to work with morons.

Anyway, good luck.

 

Yeah, I have to concur. Questioning a school's accreditation merely because "no one in the department has heard of it" is completely whacked. It is also moronic (in the extreme) since the issue would never have been broached had "someone in the department" invested a lousy 10 bucks in a college guide (e.g. USNWR's America's Best Colleges). Geez!

 

I agree with all of you. So, to be on the safe side I'll bring a nice typed page with information on how they can find out if the school is accr.... I only hope they do not choose someone else because they know the schools name real well

 

At my old college, I served on several hiring boards as the faculty representative. I recall several times when I would pull applications out of the "met requirements" pile and ask the HR folks:

"Do you realize that _____ (California Coast, Columbia Pacific, Newport, Pacific Western, etc.) on this person's application is not regionally accredited?"

It is remarkable how few people know about state approved/non-accredited schools, even in higher ed.

Tony Piña
Faculty, CSU San Bernardino

 

how to prevent this problem

Avia93 wrote:

> The Personnel head said she wants to hire me but her boss
> needs proof that my upcoming degree is from accredited
> school. She says no one in her department ever heard of
> Excelsior College.

On his Readers' Questions Web page, Lawrie Miller writes: "[...] from May 1998 until the renaming of Regents College as Excelsior College, degree diplomas were conferred in the name 'Regents College' with reference to its source of authority as being the University of the State of New York (add to that the redundant billing, 'Member of the University of the State of New York'). [...] Excelsior College diplomas [...] carry the same references to USNY."

Is this correct? If so, can one forestall the "never heard of Excelsior College" problem by putting "Excelsior College, University of the State of New York" on one's résumé?

 

Unfortunately, no, because Excelsior College is privately run and ergo no longer a college of the public USNY (it's a member institution, whatever that means). But one could certainly say:

"Excelsior College (formerly Regents College, a program of the University of the State of New York)"


Cheers,

 

> (it's a member institution, whatever that means)

Doesn't it mean "licensed to grant degrees in New York state"? Any institution not a member of USNY is (I gather) not licensed to grant degrees there.

So isn't "Bachelor of Science, Excelsior College, University of the State of New York" parallel to "married by Father O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Church"?

 

I think the "University of the State of New York" thing is misleading and should not be used since many (most?) people will confuse it with SUNY.

 

Do you know of anyone who got in trouble for putting true but misleading statements on a résumé?

 

The University of the State of New York is an actual university, originally founded in 1784. Its first, more traditional degree-granting arm was Columbia College (established in 1754 under royal charter, shut down during the Revolutionary War, and rebooted as a college of the USNY). Columbia College went private in 1810 or thereabouts and became the prestigious Columbia University. Over time the USNY gradually took on a more vocational role, granting firefighter certificates and such. In 1971, the USNY fired up a new degree-granting program, this time a nontraditional bachelor's completion program called Regents College. That program went private in 1997, and became the Excelsior College we know and love today.

It is entirely accurate to describe Regents College as a college of the University of the State of New York, because that's exactly what it was. My 1996 Regents diploma does not actually mention the phrase "Regents College"; the degree was conferred directly by "The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York." This is, I gather, the way all diplomas from the public Regents era are worded.

Excelsior College, on the other hand, grants degrees on behalf of Excelsior College, not the University of the State of New York. It may in fact have membership with the USNY--and you may be entirely correct in saying that all New York licensed colleges and universities do--but memberships are not generally listed as part of an institution's name. If I were to earn an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, I would not describe it as "M.Div., Union Theological Seminary, Association of Theological Schools."


Cheers,

 

I wrote:

>> (it's a member institution, whatever that means)
>
> Doesn't it mean "licensed to grant degrees in New York state"?
> Any institution not a member of USNY is (I gather) not licensed
> to grant degrees there.

It seems that last sentence was correct, but the second-last wasn't. Other members include children's schools, museums, libraries, and TV stations!

http://usny.nysed.gov/aboutusny.html

 

Just an interesting piece of Regents College trivia -- when the program was first started in 1977 it was known as the New York Regents External Degree Program. Diplomas were of course awarded by USNY. While under the Regents all diplomas were USNY. After independence from USNY the diplomas were Regents College for about 3 years before Excelsior Colege diplomas replaced them.

It is also correct to say that Excelsior and other New York institutions are Members of the University of the State of New York.

John

 

Also licenses for pharmacists, dentists, manustuprators, etc. are issued under USNY name.

 

Good God! I sincerely hope a license is only required in New York where, on my next visit, I must remember not to manustuprate........what with being unlicensed and all.........