Colleges in the United States have a fair amount of independence and autonomy. A state’s control over higher education institutions can vary. Without the centralized authority of a federal government agency to oversee them, educational programs can vary considerably in quality.
Still, students and parents want to ensure that an institution’s education is solid. Many schools seek out accreditation to maintain enrollment numbers. This process can vary in length and complexity based on the accrediting association and the institution it’s assessing.
What is two-year college accreditation?
Accreditation is a quality review process that higher education institutions use to verify their quality and detect improvement areas. With the amended Higher Education Act, Congress gave accrediting agencies more power to ensure the academic quality of higher education institutions. While these associations use their standards to measure quality, their power is advisory rather than legal. In other words, the educational programs or institutions they evaluate can continue to operate regardless of whether an agency accredits them.
Accreditation is an ongoing process. Accrediting agencies periodically review institutions to confirm that their quality remains high. Under the U.S. Department of Education, accredited schools must receive a review every five years. While the Council for Higher Education Accreditation allows for a 10-year recognition period, it requires an interim report after five years.
What are the types of accrediting organizations?
Institutions can earn accreditation from one of the two agency classifications below.
1. Institutional
Institutional accreditation extends to an entire institution. It indicates that each of an institution’s parts contributes to the achievement of its objectives. An institutional accreditation agency closely examines each component, including program design, finances, student support services, and learning outcomes.
Here are some examples of institutional accreditors:
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC)
New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)
Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC)
Council on Occupational Education (COE)
Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
Northwest Commission on College and Universities (NWCCU)
Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
2. Specialized or programmatic
Specialized or programmatic accreditation usually extends to departments or programs within an institution. The unit can be as small as a curriculum or as large as a school within an institution. Some specialized accreditation agencies can also accredit vocational or technical institutions.
Private or nongovernmental agencies proficient in a specific field of study perform specialized reviews to determine if an institution qualifies for programmatic accreditation. For instance, a nursing department may apply for a specialized accreditation that reviews its medical curriculums.
Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education (ACAE)
Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN)
Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA)
Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE)
What are the benefits of accreditation?
Pursuing and maintaining accreditation makes a higher education institution more appealing by:
Ensuring the quality of education: Accrediting agencies develop standards to measure what they consider the qualities of a solid educational program. Their procedures determine if an educational program operates at a basic quality level.
Standardizing education: Standardized courses and requirements ensure students that their education will give them the knowledge they’ll need in their chosen careers. Standardization also ensures employers that a candidate has received an adequate education.
Streamlining transfers: Students can more easily transfer course credits to a new institution with standardized courses. Students moving to four-year institutions can trust their credits will apply correctly.
What are the dangers of losing accreditation?
When a higher education institution is put on accreditation probation, it risks losing its eligibility to distribute federal financial funding. An organization may be placed on accreditation probation for reasons such as:
Low licensure exam pass rates
Low graduation rates
Low post-graduation employment rates
During probation, the accrediting agency closely monitors the institution to determine if it is addressing these issues. If the institution continues to fall short of quality standards, it will lose its accreditation.
A loss of accreditation poses risks to both institutions and their enrolled students. Without the ability to disperse Title IV funds, an institution could face a tarnished reputation, drops in enrollment rates, and a permanent shutdown.
What does this mean for students? If a student has already graduated from a higher education institution, their degree should retain its validity, even if the institution loses its accreditation down the road. However, if an educational establishment loses its accreditation during a student’s enrollment, that student could encounter challenges, such as:
No longer qualifying for federal financial aid.
Being unlikely to receive any tuition reimbursement.
Having a degree that is not considered valid for graduate studies.
Earning credits that are not transferrable to another institution.
Holding a degree with little value to employers.
Having to retake courses to graduate.
When a higher education institution or program loses its accreditation, the most viable solution for a student is to transfer to a different accredited organization.
What are community college accreditation requirements?
The agency awarding accreditation determines the requirements for a community college or other two-year institution, and accreditation standards vary between agencies. Most accreditation bodies prioritize an institution or program’s curriculum relevance and rigor, teaching quality, student support resources, and continuous improvement mechanisms. They assess these elements through a self-study report by the institution showing evidence of meeting accreditation standards, as well as other steps like campus visits. Below are some examples of two-year school accreditation standards by different agencies.
Mission and Goals: The institution must have a clear mission and goals, developed through collaboration, to guide its progress.
Ethics and Integrity: The institution must stand for academic freedom, fairness, transparency, and adherence to ethical and regulatory standards.
Student Learning Experience Design and Delivery: The institution’s programs must be rigorous, coherent learning experiences aligned to institutional goals and student success.
Student Experience Support: The institution must provide student support services to promote student retention and success.
Educational Effectiveness: The institution must demonstrate student success in their educational outcomes.
Resources, Planning, and Institutional Improvement: The institution’s planning and resource allocation align with its goals and promote continuous improvement.
Governance, Leadership, and Administration: The institution’s governance structure fosters transparency, accountability, and strategic oversight to fulfill the institutional mission and maintain academic quality.
Governing Board: The institution must have a governing board to ensure academic quality, financial stability, and organizational integrity. The board must appoint a full-time CEO to lead institutional governance.
Mission: The board must define an institutional mission focused on student success.
Educational Programs: Associate degree programs must have well-defined student outcomes and quality content aligned with the institutional mission.
Student Learning and Student Achievement: The institution must set standards for student achievement and track performance against program outcomes.
Student Support Services: The institution must have support services to promote student success.
Financial Resources: The institution’s financial resources and funding plans must be sufficient to support its programs and ensure stability.
3. NECHE
NECHE is a self-governing accreditation organization. It is one of seven regional higher ed accreditation bodies in the United States, accrediting degree-granting institutions in New England that meet its standards. This includes two-year schools. NECHE uses nine standards when evaluating an institution’s accreditation eligibility:
Leadership: The institution’s leadership must promote academic excellence and continuous improvement while upholding institutional values.
Strategic Planning: A goal-oriented strategic planning process must be in place to drive continuous improvement.
Student and Stakeholder Focus: The institution must have systems for identifying and meeting the needs of students and other stakeholders.
Student Learning Assessment: Programs must have clear learning outcomes and appropriate formative and summative assessment tools to evaluate student progress.
Faculty Focus: Faculty members must be qualified and the institution must support their professional development.
Curriculum: The curriculum must prepare students for professional success in business.
Business Unit Performance: Business programs must have processes to track and promote improvement in student retention, graduation rates, and other student success key performance indicators (KPIs).
Management and Administrative Operations: The institution must have the management capacity to maintain program quality and support students.
Program Requirements: Programs must teach defined skills that meet industry needs.
Educational Administration and Faculty Qualifications: Administrators and faculty must be qualified, experienced, and skilled.
Student Recruiting and Advertising: Student recruitment initiatives must be honest, ethical, and transparent.
Admissions Policies and Practices: Admissions processes must be fair in selecting students with the potential to succeed.
Student Services: Institutions must have support services like academic advising, counseling, and career support to promote student success.
Student Achievement: Schools must monitor and report student achievement metrics like graduation rates and job placement statistics.
What is the community college accreditation process?
The accreditation process for community colleges and other two-year colleges consists of five parts:
Self-study or evaluation: During this phase, a two-year school reviews and compares itself to the agency’s accreditation standards. The school should write a self-evaluation, which it can use to determine where it needs to improve. It should also send the evaluation to the accrediting association for review.
Peer review: After a school completes the self-evaluation, an external evaluation begins. The external evaluators are volunteer faculty and administrators from other institutions. There are usually eight to 12 members on an evaluation team.
Site visit: The external evaluators visit the school to assess its program quality and determine if it meets the agency’s standards.
Decision: The evaluation team makes a decision about the school, deciding whether or not it merits accreditation. The evaluators may make specific recommendations if there are areas where the school needs to improve.
Monitoring and continued improvement: After receiving accreditation, the school should work to continuously improve and maintain its standards. Implementing the recommendations of evaluators is a good first step to improvement. After several years, the accrediting agency will reassess the school to ensure it’s maintaining the accreditation standards.
How can you streamline the accreditation process?
Accreditation is a complex, multi-year process for two-year schools. It’s also ongoing, meaning that even once a school earns accreditation, it must still face periodic reevaluation. Fortunately, there are several things your institution can do to simplify the accreditation process:
Centralize documents: The accreditation process can be paperwork-heavy. From self-evaluations to agency reviews, you’ll have a lot to keep track of. Having a centralized location for all the documents associated with accreditation ensures that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. It also makes it easier for your team to access the paperwork they need when they need it.
Communicate clearly: Communication is critical during the accreditation process, whether you’re going through an initial accreditation or a review. Make sure everyone involved in the process has a clear idea of what’s happening and when, as well as what’s expected of them. Your team should know where the documents are stored and how to use any software program associated with accreditation.
Use software: Software can simplify many things, including accreditation. A streamlined system helps you gather, reflect and act on assessment data.
Keep information up-to-date: Since accreditation is ongoing, your school should do what it can to keep its information updated. Updating your data and performing regular self-evaluations will also help you detect any issues before the next accreditation review comes around.
Explore our accreditation resources and request a demo
Watermark offers a centralized approach to the accreditation process. We designed our Watermark Planning & Self-Study software specifically for higher-education institutions, including two-year schools. This intuitive software system integrates with the technology your school already uses and works well with other Watermark solutions.
Request a demo today to learn more about how our Planning & Self-Study system can help your school achieve and maintain accreditation.
MORE HELPFUL ARTICLES
←
→
Blog
Teaching creative problem-solving: Strategies for advisors and professors
