Regional and National Accreditation are now the same

It seems in the eyes of Ed. national and regional accreditation are to be treated equally.

https://sacscoc.org/app/uploads/2020/03/State-Authorization-Letter-w-Diane-Signature-2.26.19.pdf

 

Indeed. We've had a couple of threads re: this recently.Can't immediately find the one where it was announced. Quite a discussion of it here, though:
https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/online-dha-12-months-15k.57363/#post-540528

The letter says both Institutional and Programmatic accreditors will be recognized as National.

I'm guessing Problematic accreditors may be recognized as "Show Cause" or similar.

 

Indeed one would be courting disappointment. "The Accreditation Formerly Known As National?" I like that. A great name. We should print it in purple and devise a symbol for it...

 

Steve, if you check out Ed https://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg6.html#RegionalInstitutional, all accreditors are listed without clarifying regional or national. Ed used to differentiate national and regional accreditation on its website. I have direct communication from a regional accreditor that states they are now being considered a "national accreditor". I do see a big change coming due to the crossing of geographic lines and the wide-spread delivery of distance learning. Time will tell...

 

That's been the case for a while. But it doesn't reflect reality. Colleges and universities are free to accept--or reject--credits from other institutions. Nothing's changed there. Employers are free to accept--or reject--degrees from certain types of schools. Nothing's changed their, either.

How much time? DEAC, for example, has been accrediting schools offering the bachelor's degree for more than 40 years.

Again, those lines have been "crossed" for decades.

Higher education in America is largely self-regulating. The six regional associations were formed by their constituent colleges during the first half of the 20th century. Unless the federal government wants to get into the business of directly accrediting literally tens of thousands of tertiary institutions (degree- and non-degree-granting), I suspect they'll continue to rely on accrediting agencies. And there's no reason why the regionals should decide to have anything to do with other institutional accreditors, all of whom are SUPPOSED to be working in their respective niches.

If it's all the same, I'd like to reserve judgment. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

FWIW, I don't have current knowledge but I believe that RA credits transport well internationally (nothing is certain) but other accreditors (ABHE, for example) haven't had the same success.

 

Interesting how WES Canada, NARIC, and other countries will adjust and when.
NARIC only evaluates RA degrees from the USA.So they may simply single out the agencies they found equal to their country.
Will the US credential evaluators have to change the wording on the evaluation reports?
Usually, they determined id the degree equated to the US RA University.

Its been a while since I visited CHEA, how are they grouping the accreditors?

 

So CHEA groups the accreditors the following way:

National - Fate related
National - Career related
Regional
Programmatic

https://www.chea.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/2020_7_Accreditors-Recognized-CHEA.pdf

 

I notice some familiar names missing from that list. Looks like CHEA's been doing some housecleaning.

 

Well, at least it's not Fake related.

 

The Community College of Philadelphia has changed its wording when referring to accreditation for job opportunities. "Any and all degrees must be from a recognized institutional accreditor." Previously, their job postings would read "Any and all degrees must be from a regionally accredited institution of higher education."

 

So, a community college will now accept a non-RA degree for employment purposes. Maybe. (Just because it implies that doesn't make it so.) But even if true....so?

 

That's the first institution that I've heard of who is doing so. All of the one's that I'm in contact with, seem to be universally maintaining the status quo. Even a major corporation that I often work with, and has always insisted on RA degrees, is still maintaining the RA requirement.

 

Didn't there used to be a CHEA related consortium of schools that agreed to accept credits and degrees from any accredited institution? Seems to me New Mexico State was a signatory.