Here's a question....if a for profit school like NCU were to shut down during the middle of your degree, what then? What are the chances of this happening to a school like NCU? Is there a way to verify its financial stability to see if they are on the brink of going broke?
You might be out of luck. Or the school could make arrangements with another accredited school to take the mid-stream students in transfer. This happens sometimes. A significant factor in awarding accreditation is the financial stability of a school. I wonder (I don't think it's been measured) how many schools lose their accreditation because of finances compared to the number who do so because of academics? Anyway, accreditation is a sign that the school is on sound financial ground. Schools in danger of losing their accreditation are usually (always?) give the time to fix what ails them--probably long enough for students in the pipeline to finish before the fall. Very few accredited DL schools fail. I'm thinking of one, Beacon College. Are there others?
Viper, I am not an expert whatsoever in this area (or any other, as a matter of fact) but I think that regional accreditation of a university entails economic feasability. I guess that the accreditation agency looked at how these people is going to run the "business". If the plans were too optimistic or built on smoke, I guess they would have turned them off. If the university was to shut down and someone couldn't finish her or his degree, I think other universities may accept what has ben done to date. I think that there universities that accept ABD students. As I said I am not an expert, but I think this is more or less how it goes. My post was written before I had a chance to read the previous one by Rich. He's the expert. Greetings.
I once attended a university that no longer exists. Hopefully, they will let you finish the semester before they close, but that is not always the case. Some people are in the middle of a semester when the school will abruptly close shop. The nearest university will usually take over the maintenance of the records of the defunct university. For example, I used to attend the University of Central Texas, until it went out of business. Tarleton State University then took over the records of the University of Central Texas. So, if I need a copy of my nscripts from the University of Central Texas, I have to go through Tarleton.
There was an accredited college here in Knoxville that was placed on probation by the SACS and given a certain amount of time to prove they were financially able to continue operations. I am certain the student body was aware of that action.
I'm certainly not "the" expert. I'm not even sure if I qualify as "an" expert. I've made some silly errors lately because I've been working from memory instead of looking up things. But thanks.
Closed Institutions (Formerly Operating in Virginia) Here's an interesting list of closed Virginia colleges. This list provides a brief history of the college along with the current address for records, if known. http://www.schev.edu/AdminFaculty/ClosedInstitutions.asp?from=adminfaculty My favorite closed college: "Proud alumni of "Flunk-out U" reunite at site of now-bankrupt college By The Associated Press (6/02/03 - FAIRFIELD, IA) — It wasn't exactly Yale or Harvard. Not with a nickname like "Flunk-out U." Sign up for free E-witness News But proud alumni of Parsons College have reunited -- 30 years after the Iowa school went bankrupt. About 100 Parsons graduates returned this weekend to the former campus, which is now occupied by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Maharishi University of Management. Parsons was focused on teaching kids who had either been tossed out of other schools or couldn't meet stricter admission standards. Hence, it became the haven dubbed "Flunk-out U." Life magazine blasted it as a place for "rich dumb kids" who were trying to avoid being drafted and go to Vietnam. But the students loved it. One man who is now a Chicago insurance executive says his time there was "a hoot." Another man who took classes there for ten years finally graduated. He won't say what his grade-point-average was -- only that it was "enough to get a diploma." (Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)" http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/60203_sn_college.html According to the Life magazine (1966, I think) article, during the 1960's, Parsons faculty were the second highest paid faculty in the U.S. Harvard paid more.
