Regulating NA to RA transfer credit

Some of you might remember a provision being discussed for the Higher Education Act last year which would prohibit the denial of transfer credit based on the status of an institution's accreditor.

Even though it failed to be put in effect through the legislative process, it looks like the concept is back, this time through regulatory action by the Dept. of Education.

Here is the article from Inside Higher Ed

And the text of the proposal:

"The agency must ensure that decisions about transfer of credit and acceptance of credentials are not made solely on the source of accreditation of a sending institution or program, as long as the accreditation in question is from a recognized accrediting agency and within that agency's scope"

 

It's not going to happen. There is no way the government can force this--they don't have the authority. (There is no federal mandate for education, which limits what the Fed can do when their funding isn't at stake.)

Plus, is it really fair to tell schools which credits they must accept? Who does this serve?

Hey, here's an idea: What if DETC were to partner up with a regional accreditor. Say, start with reciprocity on credit transfer (with the schools having the same final say they have now) and then....have the RA accredit all DETC schools and DETC accredit all DL programs at the RA's schools! (Yes, DETC would have to go to programmatic accreditation, but that's no stretch--it does it now for overseas schools like UNISA and the CLMS.) Wouldn't that be cool? All the DETC schools would be RA, and DETC would be the leader in accrediting DL RA programs. That's what I'm talking about.

Hello? DETC? HLC? Let's go already!

 

I don't like it. It excludes other NA accrediting agencies like TRACS, ABHE, ATS, etc. CHEA has already given its opinion on the NA/RA transfer. The USDE recognizes both as equal, CHEA recognizes both as equal, it's nonsense that RA schools deny NA credit soley because its NA credit. How ridiculous is it that TESC will accept FEMA credit, 30 hours of which could be done in a weekend, but will refuse to accept actual course work completed at respectable NA colleges??? This should change, and I believe it will change.

Pug

 

No matter whether the government has authority to tell schools what to do, they certainly have the authority to decide which accreditors they will recognize. This provision requires the accreditors to force it on the schools, not the federal government directly.

If DETC schools could be RA don't you think they would be already? They do not have the resources.

 

Okay, so it excludes them. I believe DETC is in a unique position to change from an institutional accreditor--and, thus, redundant with the RAs--to a programmatic accreditor--one focused on delivery (DL) instead of program content. None of the other NAs who accredit degree-granting schools can claim that.

Besides, my statement was about DETC making progress, not about some sort of desire for an equality that will never come about. (If it could, why do we need these other institutional accreditors? Why can't the RAs just take care of it all?)

 

I suspect you don't have any support for this statement, reducing it to an opinion.

Has anyone researched the reason why only one school (AMU) has successfully proceeded from DETC to RA? It might be the availability of resources, but I'd like to see the support for that.

My opinion: I suspect it costs a similar amount to become and remain RA as it does to get and keep DETC accreditation, negating the "resources" issue.

It might--might--be because getting accredited by DETC is easier. After all, we've seen a few cases where schools pursued accreditation from DETC and their respective RA simulteneously. In every case, the DETC accreditation came far earlier--not as slow as RA and seemingly easier to get.

 

This won't work.

Just like someone else said, the schools will find a way around it. Actually, they don't have to do much more than they're doing now. Many RA schools get around accepting NA credits by insisting that the courses must be ACE evaluated. Since most NA courses are not ACE evaluated, your NA credits are usually rejected immediately.

I've found a number of University registrars to be ignorant about accreditation in general. For example, I contacted a school once and asked them if they accept credits from Ashworth College. Do you know that the registrar actually flipped through the ACE Guide to find out if Ashworth was legit? Nevermind the fact that ACE's guide is not the end-all be-all complete authority and does not include everything, she seemed to think that ACE was the Bible on accreditation, lol. Sad.

We're not just fighting an uphill battle on the matter of accreditation, but also with the ineptitude of many Registrar departments. The Registrar I mentioned even commented on DL, saying it was a "fairly new phenomenon." Then I showed her research on how schools like Ohio State University have been offering DL for more than 80 years, and the fact that DL goes back more than 150 years in the United States. The second I found myself having to educate the registrar on DL in a school that offers DL, I knew it was time for me to look elsewhere.