College Accreditation Question

[mamamary]

Hi. It turns out the college we were bringing my daughter to visit tomorrow made the news here. The college has been warned that its accreditation could be in jeopardy. Now we decided to switch which college to visit tomorrow so we won't be going there. It seems like a major problem with this school so I was wondering if you went to or have kids that go a school with this problem what your feelings are? Is it a dealbreaker or does this type of thing happen often? I have no idea. I guess I will research but thought you guys might have some advice.

Thanks

 

[Julylady]

A college losing its accreditation is a serious issue. It means that students are no longer eligible for federal financial aid and that earned credits may not be accepted by transfer colleges. But many colleges receive these "warnings" for issues that are easily fixed and nothing too serious. I would investigate the nature of the charges before I would pull the plug on them completely.

 

[gwynne]

Whatever serious troubles the college has, your student and you don't want to have to worry about them. Your student should choose other schools to visit.

 

[cabanafrau]

Too many good choices out there to bother dealing with a potentially losing proposition.

 

[HM]

UNC-Chapel Hill was under an accreditation warning for the last year or more. They just learned that their acceditation will be renewed. I wonder whether anyone thought that it was a poor choice while under investigation.

What school are were you interested in, I'm curious?

 

[Gracie09]

I wouldn't chance it. If they lose their accreditation and your daughter wants to go to grad school or transfer she may not be able so.
The UNC scandal was wrapped around a ncaa scandal (athletes were registered for non-existent classes). Since it is such a large, prestigious institution, it was highly unlikely that it would permanently lose accreditation, assuming they took appropriate steps, which they did. Now PC University, (PCU) may not have the history and funds to correct the problems ie if they needed more academically qualified full time faculty or bigger library etc. That would be a much more precarious situation and not one I would gamble on.

 

[gwynne]

UNC-Chapel Hill was under an accreditation warning for the last year or more. They just learned that their accreditation will be renewed. I wonder whether anyone thought that it was a poor choice while under investigation.

What school are were you interested in, I'm curious?

UNC-Chapel Hill had long running serious academic fraud issues. Not a big deal to some, offensive to others.
The school was put on academic probation in June of 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/unc-chapel-hill-put-on-yearlong-probation-by-accreditor-1434047690
Latest update is that they were removed from academic probation in June 2016.

 

[asta]

I wouldn't chance it. If they lose their accreditation and your daughter wants to go to grad school or transfer she may not be able so.
The UNC scandal was wrapped around a ncaa scandal (athletes were registered for non-existent classes). Since it is such a large, prestigious institution, it was highly unlikely that it would permanently lose accreditation, assuming they took appropriate steps, which they did. Now PC University, (PCU) may not have the history and funds to correct the problems ie if they needed more academically qualified full time faculty or bigger library etc. That would be a much more precarious situation and not one I would gamble on.

A little off topic but it was widely reported that in the UNC scandal there were many students who were not athletes that were padding their gpas with non-existent courses. It might have been discovered by the NCAA but it wasn't just a problem with athletes.

 

[Sleepingbeauty101]

I went to ivy tech for hospitality management, then I went and got my culinary degree and then my teaching degree, when I was getting my teaching degree I received a letter from an attorney stating that their accredation was not what they said it was and a former classmate sued them and I got all the money I paid them back, they had to do that with everyone that graduated during that time frame. So I wouldn't do it because then your degree is worthless.

 

[mamamary]

Thanks all.

 

[mamamary]

UNC-Chapel Hill was under an accreditation warning for the last year or more. They just learned that their acceditation will be renewed. I wonder whether anyone thought that it was a poor choice while under investigation.

What school are were you interested in, I'm curious?

It's Frostburg State University. We are trying to hit some in state colleges. My dd wasn't even looking to go there but we at least wanted her to see some of the Maryland colleges.

 

[HM]

It's Frostburg State University. We are trying to hit some in state colleges. My dd wasn't even looking to go there but we at least wanted her to see some of the Maryland colleges.

Thanks for the reply. So, it wasn't even on your daughter's list? Then, yeah, I'd skip it and spend your time somewhere else.

 

[mamamary]

Thanks for the reply. So, it wasn't even on your daughter's list? Then, yeah, I'd skip it and spend your time somewhere else.

It wasn't on her list but actually she doesn't really know where she wants to go so we were just picking a bunch to visit.

 

[DopeyDame]

I read about that today, too. It's not a flagship university or anything, but it is still one of the major state universities, so I can't begin to imagine that the university system won't do everything it absolutely can to ensure that it doesn't lose accredidation. There's a long way between getting a warning and losing accreditation (which would be a huge, enormous deal).
So if your daughter really wanted to go, I wouldn't hesitate. But if she doesn't care anyway, there are tons of other schools in Maryland.

 

[mamamary]

I read about that today, too. It's not a flagship university or anything, but it is still one of the major state universities, so I can't begin to imagine that the university system won't do everything it absolutely can to ensure that it doesn't lose accredidation. There's a long way between getting a warning and losing accreditation (which would be a huge, enormous deal).
So if your daughter really wanted to go, I wouldn't hesitate. But if she doesn't care anyway, there are tons of other schools in Maryland.

I agree. At least we were able to schedule a visit with another school tomorrow at the last minute since my DH and daughter already took a day off from work.

 

[mnrose]

Wouldn't even consider going to an unaccredited school. Not worth a plug nickel.

 

[Hrhpd]

Each situation is unique and has to be evaluated on a one on one basis on why their accreditation is at risk.

This one would be a deal breaker for me.

Not because I would be worried that they would lose accreditation because they will probably get it fixed, especially since they are considered a major university in the state, but because of the reputation of the university to future employers due to the nature of the warning.

This warning was based on curriculum and assessment issues. In the article I read, the accreditation problems are because the university is weak on assessing whether students are really learning the materials.

If a potential employer has two equally good resumes, who is he going to pick? The potential employee with strong, proven academic credentials or the potential employee, even though the university was still accredited, who has academic credentials that are suspect enough that the college warranted a accreditation warning? If the graduate is applying outside of Maryland, the employer probably has not heard of Frostburg University (sounds like something out of Frozen) and most likely will google it. The employer will see all these articles about a weak curriculum and substandard assessment practices. If the accreditation bureau has questions on whether a student is actually learning the material, the employer is also going to wonder if their potential employee actually knows what they studied. Working on improving? I wouldn't trust that reputation on my resume.

Not worth the reputation fallout of the warning even though the University is probably not in danger of losing their accreditation. I would go elsewhere.

 

[AppleDumpling]

It's a big red flag to me. Without knowing specifics about this school, I still wouldn't take the chance of problems down the road-- possibly having to transfer, having a subpar degree, etc.