King’s Accreditor Informs Students Of Non-Compliance “Show Cause” Status
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s Website
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), The King’s College’s academic accreditors, conducted an informational meeting notifying the student body of King’s recent failure to satisfy MSCHE accreditation standards on Monday, April 3.
According to MSCHE representatives, King’s accreditation status is not to be revoked before, if at all, June 2023.
By April 17, King’s must refile their original reaccreditation report with an additional “show cause” report that more fully explains King’s teach-out plan in case of closure, as well as demonstrates why King’s fulfills Standard VI and Requirements of Affiliation 2 and 11.
King’s began the process of creating a teach-out plan by establishing transfer agreements with several schools. The plan is required to involve agreements with schools that provide similar educational environments and programs, as well as offering options that are locally accessible. This would include creating graduation pathways for first-semester seniors. If King’s cannot adequately showcase such a plan, its accreditation status will undergo further investigation from MSCHE.
Dr. Melissa Hardin, VP of field relations for MSCHE, explained the situation to a group of students during a student-only Open Forum held in lieu of a Community Update on Monday, April 3.
Hardin announced that MSCHE took official action in light of King’s rocky financial status on February 27th. Hardin initially stated that the organization heard about the situation through media outlets. However, King’s Executive Committee sent out a school-wide email later that day stating that Hardin spoke in error. “Dr. Hardin asked King's leadership to correct one statement that she inadvertently made… suggesting that Middle States had first become aware of our situation through media coverage,” the email stated. “In actual fact, King's proactively reached out to Middles[sic] States in January.”
As a result of “concerns expressed of financial viability,” Hardin said, MSCHE asked King’s to compile a supplemental information report due March 13. In this report, King’s needed to demonstrate how they abided by Standard VI and requirements of Affiliation 2, 11 and 14.
On March 27, MSCHE informed King’s that it rejected the report and subsequently requires King’s to “show cause, by April 17, 2023, to demonstrate why its accreditation should not be withdrawn.”
Hardin emphasized that MSCHE denied the previously submitted report because it did not “meet or exceed all requirements yet.”
According to the March 27 “Non-Compliance Action” notice, King’s failed to satisfy three different specifications for continued accreditation.
Standard VI relates to “planning, resources and institutional improvement.” According to Hardin, the recent financial deficit has been a factor that contributed to King’s failure to abide by a standard that calls for, among other things, “a financial planning and budgeting process that is aligned with the institution’s mission and goals, evidence-based and clearly linked to the institution’s and units’ strategic plans/ objectives.”
Affiliation 2 is a qualification for the institution to work as a college actively. In full, the requirement is that “The institution is operational, with students actively enrolled in its degree programs.”
Affiliation 11 stipulates, among other things, that King’s must have “documented financial resources, funding base and plans for financial development.” In addition to keeping records, King’s must also be able to “support its educational purposes and programs and to ensure financial stability.”
However, King’s did satisfy Affiliation Requirement 14 according to MSCHE. Affiliation 14 obligates “the institution and its governing body/bodies [to] make freely available to the Commission accurate, fair and complete information on all aspects of the institution and its operations.”
While the school currently remains accredited, that status undergoes an automatic renewal process every eight years. The last time MSCHE approved a “reaffirmation” of King’s status was back in 2015. King’s began the Self Study portion of the reaccreditation process in October 2022, according to a press release.
After questions from multiple students, Hardin maintained that the accreditation status of summer courses would remain unknown until a final examination by a Commissioner in June.
Julia Jensen is a sophomore studying Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. She is also the President of TKC Students for Life.
Colby McCaskill is a freshman at The King’s College majoring in Journalism, Culture and Society. He is also the City Editor for the Empire State Tribune. He hates to lose at chess and enjoys long runs in the rain.