As leaders of Fresno City College address the findings of the accreditation team, they may benefit from the experiences of Shasta College and Northern Marianas College, both of which had received warnings from the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
Shasta College
Shasta College, located in Redding, received an accreditation warning from in November 2008 for failing to meet the standard in its program and financial planning process, and found that it was lacking clear goals and objectives setting as well as step-by-step organization, according to the ACCJC report. The college was given 10 months to show improvements.
By March 2009, Shasta College had developed a strategic plan to improve student learning by providing more technological tools and facilities, to offer faculty trainings and to promote the college among local organizations by 2012. The ACCJC removed Shasta from warning status after reviewing its follow-up report without a visit in June, 2009.
However, the ACCJC evaluation team returned to Shasta College in Fall 2011 and then placed the college on Probation because it did not find that the planning process had improved since 2008. The team required that the college identify student learning outcomes for all courses, programs and degrees.
Even though the institution has kept its accredited status during its probation, Shasta College will not be reaffirmed until all the problems are resolved and a follow-up report is submitted by Oct. 15, 2012. The commission will be compelled to take additional actions if the college fails to meet this deadline.
If Shasta College loses its accreditation, students may lose their federal financial aid. In addition, other universities and potential employers may not accept academic credits from an unaccredited college.
Northern Marianas College
Northern Marianas College, located in Saipan, recently came close to losing its accreditation.
In the past five years, the college has twice been placed on a Show Cause status, a step worse than being placed on Probation. The ACCJC evaluation team sanctioned NMC for continually failing to meet eligibility requirements and commission standards in financial management and integrity, institutional governance and accountability, and autonomy.
NMC reaffirmed its accreditation in July 2009 but was placed back on Show Cause in June 2010 after the ACCJC team came back to visit the campus. Since that time, NMC was trying to prove to the Accreditation Commission that the school meets all the requirements to be called accredited again. In January 2012, ACCJC finally removed the school from Show Cause and placed it on Probation. The Commission expects Northern Marianas College to demonstrate full resolution of the given recommendations by next visit in Fall 2012.
“Although we had hoped for an upgraded accreditation status,” said NMC President Sharon Hart, “we are pleased to see that the accrediting commission has recognized the College’s effort to resolve many of the issues and recommendations that had been raised in prior action letters and team reports.”
The Western Association for Schools and Colleges visited NMC in November 2011 and noticed that the institution had already resolved eight out of 11 recommendations and concerns.
“Even before the receipt of the action letter from ACCJC, the College had begun taking concrete steps to address the issues and concerns raised in the outstanding and supplemental recommendations,” noted NMC President Hart.
The college has already developed a five-year policy review calendar and made some changes to improve its financial control and reporting structure.
The ACCJC did not require the school to submit a separate accreditation report in addition to the annual follow-up report for the first time since 2007. NMC is already working on its 2012 Self-Evaluation process, and is working towards resolving all the recommendations and reaffirming its accreditation status.
