new policies in Wyoming

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by jra, Aug 9, 2006.

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  1. jra

    jra Member

    Hi guys, from what i understand Wyoming didnt have something as "state licensed" degree granting institutions, as Alabama, California etc have.. with their new policy they created some equivalent to state licensing? or how are things in Wyoming with the new policies?
     
  2. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    No state level approval, schools need to be accredited, pursuing accreditation, or they're operating illegally.
     
  3. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    The Wyoming Dept. of Education has posted an update on the current status of state-licensed schools.

    American City, American Central, and Paramount Universities have "received candidate status from DETC".

    Kennedy-Western (or, as it may be known in the future, Warren National) and Columbia Commonwealth Universities are "progressing towards candidate status with HLC."

    Certain other schools, such as Preston and Newport International Universities, are apparently not making an effort to comply with the new regulations.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 19, 2006
  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Um, I thought that DETC didn't have candidacy status? When I read the DETC manual my understanding was that because the process isso short (5 to 12 months) that there were simply applicants who either became accredited or not.

    -=Steve=-
     
  5. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    Perhaps the State means that the schools in question have submitted applications to DETC, and initiated the DETC evaluation process. If so, then they may not have formal "Candidate" status, but informally they are candidates for DETC accreditation just the same.

    It may be interesting to see how DETC deals with American Century University. Oregon ODA has previously linked American Century University to an unrecognized accreditation agency coincidentally named "International DETC". The real DETC reportedly took legal action against IDETC.
     
  6. TX-Wy

    TX-Wy New Member

    There are other 4 year colleges in Wyoming other than UW ??

    I grew up in Wyoming and never heard of these...I guess it pays to research the schools a person is interested in.
     
  7. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    As of last year, the number of students enrolled in Wyoming's unaccredited private universities (14,530 total according to this story) was larger than the number of students enrolled in the University of Wyoming (only 13,162 according to Wikipedia).

    Kennedy-Western alone had 9,498 enrolled students. And given KW's aggressive advertising on the Internet, it wouldn't surprise me if KW now has more international name recognition than UW.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 22, 2006
  8. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Most of these unaccredited mystery schools started sporting Wyoming addresses fairly recently, when word spread that Wyoming education regulations were extremely lax. And most of them only maintain a minimal physical presence in the state. At least until recently, they were only required to have one employee based in WY. The point isn't to serve Wyoming residents, it's to establish a legal basis enabling these enterprises to serve customers elsewhere.

    I know that a couple of years ago, one of the ones that now insists that it's seeking regional accreditation (Columbia Commonwealth) only had a tiny office that was usually locked and dark because the university wasn't in.

    Another of them (Kennedy-Western) operated out of a fairly attractive office building in Ventura County, California, but refused to enroll California residents or even to correspond with them, because California had refused them permission to operate degree programs in that state. Hence the potemkin-presence claiming to be in Wyoming. I've heard that K-W has started building up a real presence in WY and is hiring staff (and apparently thinking about changing their name) so maybe this one really is serious about going legit. They certainly have the money to do it, all they've lacked was the will.

    Preston University is kind of a franchise arrangement. They register their "university" in Wyoming, then resell those American degree-granting powers all over the world. There are 20 or 30 Preston University 'branch campuses' spread from Venezuela to China, all of which purport to grant Wyoming degrees. The originator of that little empire is Pakistani, I believe.

    I guess that the State of Wyoming finally decided that kind of stuff was becoming an embarassment to the state's educational honor and decided to rein it in a little.

    Yes! Yes! Yes! Emphatically YES!!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 22, 2006

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