The U.S. Education Department is cracking open the door to federal financial aid for students enrolled in nontraditional education programs — and trying out alternatives to accreditation in the process. On Wednesday the department will announce a pilot program that will allow federal grants and loans to flow to educational-technology companies that team up with … Continue reading
Tagged with accreditation …
For City College of San Francisco, New Year a Matter of Survival
In the last two years, City College of San Francisco, one of the nation’s largest community colleges, has seen its student enrollment shrink by more than 20 percent, from more than 100,000 students to fewer than 80,000, according to college officials. Several top administrators have also departed, according to a board member. The California Federation … Continue reading
California Lawmakers Gut Legislation Meant to Regulate Accreditor
In February state lawmakers in California proposed a sweeping set of regulations for the agency that accredits the state’s community colleges. But the bill, AB 1942, which passed the Legislature last month, has been stripped of nearly all its original requirements, and other measures aimed at the accreditor remain stalled in legislative committees. A legislative … Continue reading
Conference Gives Hints of How Accreditation May Change
When U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin spoke to a room full of accreditors and accreditation advocates here on Wednesday morning, many were worried that the Iowa Democrat would repeat some of the harsh criticisms he has leveled at the accreditation system in recent years. In several hearings of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, … Continue reading
College Accreditors Under Pressure To Crack Down
When City College of San Francisco was given a year to rein in a massive debt, fix deteriorating facilities, and bring its academic courses up to standards, it wasn’t state or federal regulators threatening to close the college if it didn’t respond. Nor was it parents, legislators, or impatient bankers. The shutdown warning came from an obscure … Continue reading
Accrediting Agencies Demand More from Community Colleges
Time was when the country’s seven higher education accrediting bodies were little more than good ol’ boy networks in bowties, horn-rimmed glasses and sensible heels. The gatherings of brethren would periodically visit campuses for a few days, renew acquaintances, take an inventory of books on library shelves, _calculate how many professors had doctoral degrees, make … Continue reading
Department of Education Warns Accreditor That Sanctioned City College of San Francisco
The U.S. Department of Education has warned the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges that it is out of compliance with several federal regulations and could face a possible sanction if the problems are not corrected within 12 months. In a letter, dated August 13, the department cited four areas where the accreditor does … Continue reading
Colleges Ask Government to Clarify Rules for Credit Based on Competency
Forty years after Regents College became the first in the nation to award degrees based on proof of prior learning, competency-based education, as its model became known, may finally be on the verge of federal approval. Within days, the U.S. Department of Education is expected to approve Southern New Hampshire University’s request to award federal … Continue reading
Accreditation Is Eyed as a Means to Aid Adjuncts
Can a quality education be provided by any college that relies heavily on adjunct instructors it subjects to lousy working conditions? Some higher-education experts and prominent advocates for adjunct faculty members would like to see accreditors and others who pass judgment on colleges ask questions like that more often. Those concerned about the conditions of … Continue reading
Community College in Florida Admits to Graduating Students Without Required Courses
Officials at Edison State College, in southwestern Florida, admitted on Thursday to awarding degrees to students who had failed to complete required courses in order to raise the college’s graduation rate, according to a local newspaper, the News-Press. The disclosure, which could lead to trouble with the college’s regional accreditor, came after the paper obtained documents through an open-records … Continue reading
