Keeping Up With Accreditation
Aaron Frey
Friday, April 9, 2021 12:46 PM
Campus News
Galesburg, IL
As we close in on the end of the academic year, Carl Sandburg College is also closing in on completing its reaccreditation process through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). What does that mean, and how does it affect you? To answer those questions, we spoke with Michelle Johnson, Sandburg’s dean of institutional planning and accreditation liaison officer.
What is accreditation?
Accreditation is a process Sandburg and other colleges have to go through every 10 years. Being accredited allows class credits earned at Sandburg to transfer to other institutions. It also gives students access to federal financial aid funds to pay for classes here, and it keeps us in compliance with the US Department of Education. Accreditation also allows for students in our career/technical and health professions programs to sit for their licensure and credential exams.
RELATED: Read this story and more in the 2021 edition of "Sandburg"
What is the process like for a college to remain accredited?
Sandburg goes through a three-step process to remain accredited through HLC. The first step is called a continuous quality initiative. The institution has to select an area that needs improvement, implement steps to improve that process and report its findings.
The second step is to write what’s called an assurance argument. HLC gives criteria for accreditation that a school has to follow. The assurance argument is where a college provides evidence of that in a written document.
The third step is a comprehensive visit where a trained peer reviewer who works in higher education comes to the institution and speaks with students, faculty and staff; reviews onsite documents; and discusses items of interest or concern with the college.
Where is Sandburg at in this cycle now?
We’re in the 10th year of the Open Pathway cycle. We’ve completed our quality initiative and assurance argument, and our comprehensive visit will take place in April. Because of the pandemic, the visit is actually going to be a virtual visit. We will have one peer reviewer onsite, and we will have four others that will be holding virtual meetings to review our documents.
Why does accreditation matter to Sandburg’s students?
It’s important for Sandburg to maintain its accreditation so that when students transfer to another college or go to the workforce to achieve their licensure or certification, their credits from here count. Also, if students want to use federal financial aid like Pell Grants to take courses, the institution has to be accredited.
For people who live in Sandburg’s district but aren’t students, why does accreditation matter to them?
It matters to them because HLC doesn’t just focus on what the institution does for academics. The values that HLC adheres to involve collaboration with the community. Does the institution provide public good? Do we have strong partnerships with our employers, with our K-12 partners? In order to do that, we have to work hand-in-hand with the communities in our district. It also focuses on if we are using our resources, like taxpayer funds, wisely. What can we do to be more sustainable and lessen the burden on students? Following the guidelines for accreditation allows us think of how we can improve what we do at Sandburg.