Chancellor University to withdraw from HLC effective October 11 2013

No details, but here is the link from the HLC website:

The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association

 

Chancellor University is a for-profit school that has been struggling with financial, accreditation, and reputation issues for several years. Their relationship with HLC has been complicated:

Nov 2008: on probation with HLC
Feb 2010: HLC issues "show-cause" order
Feb 2011: HLC lifts "show-cause" order
Jun 2012: HLC issues a second "show-cause" order
Oct 2012: HLC lifts the second "show-cause" order
Nov 2012: Chancellor resigns from HLC, effective Oct 2013

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Other recent developments:

2007: President of Myers University (their former name) briefly jailed.
2009: Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, establishes the "Jack Welch Management Institute" at Chancellor, but then moves it to Strayer University in 2011.
2010: It is widely reported that Chancellor recruits students at homeless shelters and prisons.

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Chancellor's plans for the future are not clear. Their website still indicates that they are RA, and does not acknowledge that they will lose RA next year. Their enrollment seems to be relatively low (College Navigator says 523 full-time and part-time students in Fall 2011), so there may not be very many students that are affected.

 

Chancellor has certainly had some turbulent situations over the past few years, but this one tops it for sure. I wonder what the plan is? To seek National Accreditation? To shut down?

This should be interesting.

 

Those would seem like the only two viable options. If the school doesn't find some alternative form of USDoE-recognized accreditation (like NA), then their students will not qualify for Federal financial aid. And if such aid becomes unavailable, then it's hard to see how they can stay open.

Possibly they could sell themselves to some other school (perhaps Strayer, which previously acquired their Jack Welch Institute). But with only around 500 students, they don't seem like a particularly attractive acquisition target (Strayer, for example, has around 50,000 students).

 

I say they should shut down and then re-open as Dyke College.

 

500 students? Yeah, they're probably done.

 

At first I thought there was a joke there, but no :wink:

 

I thought there might be a joke, too -- but just a former name, it appears. According to the Wiki, the original name was Folsom's Mercantile College. Maybe they could revert to that, or Union Business School or Spencerian College -- it's been known as all of them. It was even part of the Bryant and Stratton system, until 1867.

Here's one fact I found interesting from the Wiki, at Chancellor University - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia :

"The most notable alumnus of Chancellor University is Cleveland native John D. Rockefeller, who attended the school when it was known as Folsom's Business College."

Yes, it would take a bite out of the family fortune to save the place -- and sadly, I don't think that's in the cards. :sad:

Johann

 

According to this article, Chancellor is going to shop for another accreditor:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20121029/SUB1/310299990#

 

The title of the article states:

"For-profit Chancellor U. cuts oft-critical accreditor, eyes another"

But most of the article is behind a paywall, so it is not clear what other accreditor they might be considering.
Possible guesses might include DETC, ACICS, or ACCSC.

The Chancellor website continues to indicate that they are RA, with no indication of any future changes.

 

The article does not state where Chancellor is accreditor shopping...

 

I've heard from a former employee that they are looking at WASC, and thinking of moving some functions out west to San Diego. Does anyone know if WASC is a viable option after leaving HLC?

 

WASC, like HLC, is a regional accreditation agency. There are six total: WASC covers California and Hawaii, while HLC-NCA covers a number of midwestern and southwestern states.

The six regional agencies are responsible for different areas, but they have generally similar accreditation standards. If a school can't meet the standards of HLC, it will probably have similar problems with WASC.

It might make more sense for Chancellor to consider a national accreditation agency, like DETC, ACICS, or ACCSC, which have looser accreditation standards than the regional agencies.

 

No. In fact, WASC is tougher--or has been in the past. (UoP and Northcentral are two direct examples. Trident--originally accredited by Middle States--might become a third.)

 

And you can add Ashford University to that list as well....

That being said, if Chancellor University applies for WASC accreditation; things could be interesting to say the least. Remember, Chancellor is not on any sanction with HLC.

Shawn