Knoxville College's Free Associate Degree

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by TEKMAN, Aug 3, 2021.

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  1. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    Accepting international students at this time would almost certainly complicate their institutional goals. They have a challenging endeavor to pursue and without the support that would make it likely to succeed.

    They had regional accreditation with SACS but lost it in the late 90s. They experienced a slow decline for decades that culminated in them essentially losing their students, accumulating debt loads, a campus that deferred facility maintenance until in started to fall apart, and compounded by some really poor managerial decisions that led to their campus actually becoming an EPA Superfund site because of toxic chemicals. They had a wonderful history and served a great purpose for generations, but the endeavors that are occurring now with trying to restore them as an institution seem to be driven more by alumni who are reminiscing of the past more so than having a strategic plan for the future. While that is understandable, it would also be a real challenge to restart a residential program that is essentially adjacent to a major public land grant research university or ever achieve the prominence they once had.
     
    sanantone, SteveFoerster and Dustin like this.
  2. Vicki

    Vicki Well-Known Member

    Since I am curious… I sent them an email with some basic questions regarding their accreditation and transferability of their credits/degree. It will be interesting if they reply.
     
  3. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    I can understand your question regarding their current accreditation intentions. However, what do you expect them to tell you about transferability? Accredited or not, a school cannot guarantee the transfer of credits earned at that institution. That decision rests with the receiving institution.
     
  4. Vicki

    Vicki Well-Known Member

    Sometimes schools that are offering Associates degrees have agreements with other universities who will welcome their graduates. Perhaps they have something like that. Perhaps not. Only one way to find out.

    But your snark is not appreciated, thanks.
     
  5. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Yep, the Knoxville history is well-documented, but VUL's history is hard to find. I just noticed that TRACS was being looked at by multiple HBCUs with histories of instability.

    Strangely, I've come across a couple of government organizations in Texas that will only recognize regional accreditation and TRACS. I'm thinking someone from Paul Quinn College, another HBCU with TRACS accreditation, pulled some strings.
     
  6. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    Well it's been alluded that a certain Texas politician with a bit of pull, may have pulled some strings on TRACS behalf in order to have them somewhat recognized... Wouldn't surprise me if the same individual(s) from Texas, also worked to have them recognized there. As for the possible trend of unstable institutions migrating to them, in order to maintain some level of accreditation... everyone can have their own speculations as to how that may be interpreted...
     

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