The American Public University System resigned its DETC accreditation

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Shal916, May 11, 2012.

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  1. Shal916

    Shal916 New Member

    So it is interesting that APUS has resigned its DETC accreditation after DETC was the first one that accredited them. However, both APU and AMU still show they hold DETC accreditation. So will this lead to APUS not accepting DETC transfer credits?

    http://detc.org/actions/051012_AC_meeting_report.pdf
     
  2. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    For a long time, they had maintained on their website that they would retain DETC accreditation because that was their first accreditor.
     
  3. Shal916

    Shal916 New Member

    So am I reading it right?
     
  4. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Yes, you're reading it right.

    This is both surprising and not surprising....not surprising because I fully expected them to let their DETC accreditation naturally lapse (expire) as soon as they received RA accreditation, but surprising that they renewed their DETC accreditation at least once after they were regionally accredited, and now they choose to resign DETC accreditation.

    I have to assume (which is my opinion, speculation, however you want to word it) that APUS wants to distance themselves from distance learning, which is of course highly ironic and comical.
     
  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Yup, American Military University resigned its DETC accreditation as of April 30, 2012.
     
  6. msganti

    msganti Active Member

    This sucks...as their RA Accreditor will force them to take in only RA credits.
    Sad to see a great school going the "Only RA" way....
     
  7. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    Not necessarily. RA schools are not required to take only RA credits.
     
  8. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I agree with Stefan. The school gets to make the choice.

    We've all heard about the expense of accreditation and so we shouldn't be surprised to find a school that's dropping an accreditor that it finds to be unnecessary.
     
  9. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    Of course from a business view, they could now legitimately--without much hassle--reject or greatly reduce the number of NA credits they'll accept, and I wouldn't be too surprised if they did just that.
     
  10. bpreachers

    bpreachers New Member

    Luckily this will have no effect on me as I had zero NA credits and have already graduated from AMU but I still find this interesting if not a tad off putting. One of their big "sale points" they use is that they accept credits from both NA and RA and are relatively liberal with their Transfer Credit policies. I hope I am wrong but bet this is a move towards filtering out NA transfer credits which will garner them more money in the long run as people will have to take more classes/retake classes due to not accepting NA.
     
  11. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    So how many schools are dual-accredited (RA & NA), now? The only other I know of is Western Governors. You could count Penn Foster because their Career School is regionally accredited.
     
  12. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Concord Law School, which is a division of Kaplan University, is both DETC and RA. However, other branches of Kaplan are RA-only.

    Concord was historically accredited by DETC as an independent institution. In 2007, Concord was acquired by Kaplan, which is RA. Kaplan then requested that its regional accreditation be modified to cover Concord's operations and degrees, and was successful.

    Concord's DETC accreditation expires in 2015. Will be interesting to see if they renew, or if they let it drop, given that they are now under Kaplan's RA umbrella.
     
  13. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    It's possible, but I don't necessarily see is as a rejection of NA transfer credits. It's a waste of time and money to have DETC if you have RA.

    I'm not sure why APUS would be interested in losing a competitive advantage in this highly-competitive market. Currently APUS has a few advantages: 1) Relatively good reputation compared to other for-profit universities, 2) Military/government relationships, 3) Liberal transfer credit acceptance, 4) Affordability.

    I'm not sure they would want to give up such a significant advantage.
     
  14. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Similar to how Liberty used to be TRACS accredited but dropped it once they got RA ...
     
  15. Jonathan Whatley

    Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

    Overall, regional accreditors actually more liberal rules on maximum transfer credits and minimum academic residency (not physical residency, but credits earned from the degree-issuing institution) than the DETC.

    A school that resigned DETC in for RA lone could hypothetically have more latitude to compete more directly with, or at least offer some programs more like those of, the Big Three.

    (Note, though, that APUS is in North Central territory, and none of the Big Three are; TESC and EC are in Middle States and COSC is in New England. Other regional accreditors may, like the DETC, be tougher on minimum academic residency. Athabasca University, whose Bachelor of General Studies [B.G.S.] degree has no residency requirement, is U.S. RA, also through Middle States.)

    (Also, a DETC school that had its act together and wanted to lighten the residency requirement could always apply to the DETC for a waiver, pilot project, etc.)

    (Finally, I don't think that this actually is APUS' plan, just that this flexibility would be one hypothetical advantage of RA accreditation alone over dual RA and DETC. Another would be addressing any negative perception from those concerned that NA recognition is inferior, who don't get the kind of subtle points that by also being RA, a dually accredited school is going to be treated as RA full-stop and shouldn't suffer any disadvantage in degree or credit acceptance elsewhere.)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 11, 2012
  16. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    APUS started out in Manassas, Virginia, which is a SACS state, but when it came time to apply for regional accreditation they moved their headquarters to Charles Town, West Virginia, about an hour west of there. West Virginia is not only wild and wonderful, it's also a North Central state.
     
  17. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    1. Present and future dollars remain with RA accreditation and not with DETC accreditation.

    2. Academic utility remains with RA and not with DETC.
     
  18. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    That's a concise summary of my own thoughts
     
  19. truckie270

    truckie270 New Member

    From APUS President Wallace Boston:

    Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

    Since 1995, our institution has been nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC); and we have built a strong and mutually beneficial relationship over that time. Most recently, DETC reaffirmed our accreditation in February 2012, following a comprehensive review process. Since 2006, our regional accreditation has been secure with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (HLC), the same body that accredits institutions such as University of Chicago and Northwestern University. In 2011, the HLC reaffirmed our accreditation for online courses and programs without any other stipulations on our affiliation status. The Department of Education recognizes both accrediting bodies but requires us to select only one as our accrediting body for purposes of participating in the Title IV Federal Student Aid programs, and HLC has served as our accrediting body for that purpose.

    Recently, our Board of Trustees determined that APUS should focus on its institutional accreditation from HLC and seek to expand further its programmatic accreditation from specialized accreditors. An institution that has institutional and programmatic accreditations must ensure that its programs and operations comply with multiple sets of accrediting standards and policies. The Board concluded that withdrawing from our affiliation with DETC and focusing instead on HLC and programmatic accreditation would better serve APUS’s quality assurance objectives and would be in the best interest of the University and our students.

    Increasingly, we have pursued programmatic or specialty accreditations. For example, the APUS School of Business recently received accreditation for its programs by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) (ACBSP : External Homepage) and our Emergency and Disaster Management Program has been accredited by the Foundation for Higher Education Accreditation (FFHEA) (Foundation for Higher Education Accreditation). Other programmatic accreditations are in process. In addition to programmatic accreditation, we have been aligning other academic programs with industry-specific guidelines, including those of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), www.shrm.org; the Sports and Health Sciences with the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), www.asep.com; and the Child and Family Development with the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR), NCFR.

    I assure you that APUS’s withdrawal of its DETC accreditation does not impact APUS’s accreditation from HLC. Moreover, the action does not impact APUS’s eligibility to participate in military tuition assistance programs, government and corporate tuition reimbursement programs, veterans education benefits programs, and the Title IV Federal Student Aid Programs.

    With its rich 80-year history focused on defining and promoting excellence in distance education, DETC has been a strong partner for us over the years, enabling APUS to become the leading online academic institution we are today. I personally want to thank Mr. Mike Lambert, Executive Director of DETC, for his critical eye and unwavering support for APUS, as well as the other staff members and volunteers affiliated with DETC.

    Sincerely,
    Dr. Wallace E. Boston
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2012
  20. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member


    So, it's Arne Duncan's fault!

    Seriously, though, I have nothing at all against the DETC; however, my institution is in the same situation, in that specialized secondary accreditation is a higher priority for us. When I was asked to investigate whether our e-Learning Division should consider seeking DETC accreditation, we were unable to come up with anything significant that DETC could offer us that we did not already possess with our regional accreditation through SACS.
     

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