Virginia University of Lynchburg Accreditation on Warning

The DHA is probably the only program keeping them afloat, but it's kind of gimmicky. They should have spent all these years improving retention and graduation rates at the undergraduate level. Due to limited degree offerings, they have a transfer agreement with Liberty University. That means that they're losing students to Liberty because they don't offer many majors.

The school seems like it hasn't decided if it wants to be a seminary or a comprehensive university. Shouldn't it be the case that, if a student chooses VUL, it's because they want a degree in religious studies? Why do they have enough students, who want to transfer out and major in something else, to warrant a transfer agreement?

 

But, these young men can ( and possibly do) get hurt in the process (physically or otherwise).. NCCU has folks that go onto to the NFL ( I think 5 or 6 are playing now).

As I say this, we do play them this fall... NCCU will first host Virginia University of Lynchburg on Oct. 12. It will be the second time the Eagles will host the Dragons inside O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium in the past three seasons. NCCU tallied a 59-14 triumph over VUL in that first meeting in 2022.

 

TRACS just needs to freeze VUL's ability to grant doctoral degrees and we shall see how things will change quickly...

 

What are their enrollment numbers? I saw 897 for 2022. I don't think most of those students are in the DHA program. The DHA only takes one to two years to complete, so I would guess that their DHA graduation numbers are close their DHA enrollment numbers.

As a former seminary, I don't think there would be anything unusual about focusing on graduate programs, but they would be mostly in ministry and theology. They don't advertise their religious studies degrees as much as the DHA.

The DHA appears to only have one healthcare-related course. I only saw two faculty members with healthcare experience and no faculty members with healthcare-related degrees.

 

Well, my reasoning is this. NCCU is vastly larger than VUL. NCCU does not need to play them ( my opinion). They have great schools in state ( Campbell, Elon, NC A&T) they can play. Also, it does not serve VUL well to get trounced each time they play. Just my opinion

 

NCCU probably feels obligated to include a small HBCU, and it should be good press. However, VUL doesn't appear to have a strong history as an accredited HBCU, so I question the value of propping this school up. It's as if they got the HBCU designation on a technicality. At this point, VUL is taking advantage of Black people instead of serving them. The loyalty should be to the surrounding community and not a university just because it managed to get an HBCU designation in 2011. Prospective students in the area would be better served at another institution with a higher graduation rate, more ethical and competent leadership, and safe living conditions.

 

Does anyone know where one can find the board members for VUL? This is normally on the website for nonprofit universities, but I don't see anything about the board on VUL's website. In the video that Masterchief linked to, it was reported that the board members are related. In an old article, they mentioned an abnormally large number of board members.

 

The course content for the courses includes healthcare readings, research, and case studies. They also often include content from other industries. The names of the courses alone don’t really make that obvious. They could all have been renamed to toss in the word healthcare. That said it could easily be a DBA or Leadership degree, potentially with a Healthcare focus.

The faculty backgrounds are certainly more business focused. They aren’t all listed on the website either. That said there is more healthcare mixed into those backgrounds than is obvious. Much of it is a minor part of their experience.

Hammond briefly worked with a Health Plan purchasing org.
Gupta has some consulting experience in a hospital setting.
Hampton has worked with health policy and related research.
Alexander has worked with health related legal issues.
Wodicka was very much in public service, but was also an EMT.
Gupta had two co-faculty that were more direct healthcare. One had a medical physicist background. With his DHA from VUL and a grad degree in medical physics.

 

Their 990 on ProPublica may help. It appears to be 10 on the last filing. Two do share a last name.

 

True, but according to some student reviews, the courses aren't really focused on healthcare. Also, according to DHA students on Degree Forum, the practica aren't really practica. There's no observation or hands-on activities. Other than some practice with filling out an IRB application, they're just regular online courses.

I know that an in-person practicum can be difficult for working adults, but there's a way to do this virtually. I was a master's student in a class for undergraduates. The professor had me respond to the undergraduate students' discussion posts just to give me some exposure to teaching online courses.

 

Update: On October 21, 2024, announced by this public disclosure issued November 15, 2024, the Accreditation Commission of TRACS voted to maintain (i.e. to continue) Virginia University of Lynchburg's status as accredited on probation.

There is good news for VUL:

However, VUL still needs to demonstrate to TRACS that it complies with TRACS standards related to federal financial aid participation, including that VUL "Provide a plan for operations through a restricted cash flow environment and document available reserves to carry out this plan."

 

[QUOTE="However, VUL still needs to demonstrate to TRACS that it complies with TRACS standards related to federal financial aid participation, including that VUL "Provide a plan for operations through a restricted cash flow environment and document available reserves to carry out this plan."[/QUOTE] I do not see any potential issue with generating a report. The bigger question is if the plan of operations with a restricted cash flow is believable? What criteria does TRACS have to evaluate the plan? I agree with my fellow alumni this is a positive step forward, but VUL still has work to do, and some are still questioning the competency of the president.