Accreditation problem, oh no

[happy20003]

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[Skialta]

If I were you I would check and see if you could transfer your credits to another university and try to obtain a bio degree of some kind. If schools don't recognize your degree maybe they would recognize some of your classes. That could really cut down on the classes you need to take.

MS2

 

[happy20003]

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[Febrifuge]

Schools in Arizona need to be accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, in order for their credits to transfer (usually). Sorry but there is no other way around it; you attended a school that is not accredited the way other schools need it to be, for whatever reason.

 

[Violently_Happy]

UAT, as of now, is in the process of becoming NCA (North Central Association of Colleges and Schools) accredited. The process takes from three to seven years and once it is complete, then UAT degrees will be accepted by the likes of ASU and U of A. As it stands now, UAT is three years into the process and if all goes really well, in two years, it will be done. The main thing involved is time.
Here is something to think upon. Did you know ASU is one of the hardest schools to transfer credits into? ASU Main campus is known not to accept credits from the ASU West campus and that is fact. Also I knew of someone who transfered from Penn State and could not get a third of his classes to transfer.
Now I am not aware of the policies of Midwestern but it seems non NCA credits are going to be hard to bring in to any insitution across the board. The only two suggestions I would follow, if I were doing the same as you, are to start over in a community college or two year school and see if they might be more laxed on transfer credits and obtain the core requirements or wait out the time needed for your degree or classes from UAT to be recognized as NCA quality. If time and age is a concern for you, my girlfriend's older brother is going to college to become a physician and he is in his forties. So time is not a huge concern. It is more about desire.
In the end, anything worth having is worth working for, no matter how long it takes and what you have to go through to get it.

P.S. If you have a degree, then you are part of the 20% club that actually graduates college. With that degree you could work with a decent salary while NCA accredition processes. Again just a thought.

weirdest situation I have ever had.


hi there, i live here in phoenix, arizona. i am finishing my BA(from a private school and not at a arizona state university, and this is causing me a lot of trouble) and will start to do the post bac(which will take me 1-2yrs). here is some problems:

1) ASU, UofA, and Midwestern don't accept my BA from a private school(took some general education classes there).
i should had taught of this problem, but i wanted to finish my BA(graphic/web designer) in 3yrs instead of 4 and so i chose a private university that had this faster option. oh well...

2) i was plainning on working as a (spanish)medical interpreter to get some clinical experiance, but i have been told that i could volunteer in any other area instead or working(it seems obvious to work instead of volunteering, right?). i had been told to just volunteer, and do shadowing, but since i am a graphic/web designer i have to prove that i really want to go to a medical school and i was advise to work as a research assistant, but i am not having any luck on this. only found one research assistant at Midwestern university(i did apply) but don't know where to find more research assistant positions here in phoenix arizona. i am thinking of becoming a Rad.

I always tought a BA is a BA degree where ever you get it from.

i just checked my school and it says that its :
UAT is accredited by ACICS (Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools) http://www.acics.org/
and awards associate's degrees, bachelor's and master's degrees.
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools is listed as a nationally recognized accrediting agency by the United States Department of Education. Its accreditation of degree-granting institutions and universities is also recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

This may be why ASU,UofA, and Midwestern were unwilling to accept classes from UAT - not a public/private issue, but more an issue of proper accreditation.

i think its not fair that i have spend almost 4yr with 120 credits at a private school, and not get into Med school either UofA or midwestern becasue of the accreditation problem. that sucks that i will have to start over again -so we are talking here more of getting a 2nd Bachelor here or just the minimum 90 credits.

i always thought it was public/private issue, becasue midwestern told me that they will accept me BA from that school.but when i double checked it turn out to be a different story.
i wouldn't like to find out that i didn't fulfill the "90 semester hours" requirement because the schools decided not to recognize work done in a non-regional accredited institution.


i really want to become a doctor, and if they don't accept my uat school credits i have not option but to start all over again. i have already spend almost 4yr at that school(art classes and with general education classes ) and to do another Bachelor would take me another 3-4, well i could just do the 90credits and not get a 2nd bachelor. I just called Midwestern and they told me that just do the minimum 90credits and the Bachelor is not require. those 90 credits would have to include the pre reqs for the med school and so i don't have to do the post bac any more.

ASU premed advisor is probably not used to dealing w/ someone from a non-regionally accredited school applying to med school.

I am planning on doing it at a community college college,and part at ASU. i will ckeck the community college, I still hope they can give me credit for classes already taken at UAT for the community college. i could take a placement test, but i won't get any credit so i am better of just repeating eng101 and eng102 and etc. the same problem could occur if i get a teacher approval, no credit and forced to take more upper classes.

i do understand that i have to do well in these classes and, also do well on the MCAT.

i was just going to do the post bac but i guess i am wrong and will have to start over again. is anyone having this same problem.

 

[group_theory]

Unfortunately it gets more complicated.

Since the poster graduated from UAT at the time that it wasn't accredited by North Central Association, her courses and degree won't be recognize by other regionally accredited schools even if UAT ultimately gets accredited by NCA.

The same holds true for the opposite situation. If the poster graduated from School X, and School X was accredited by NCA at the time that the poster graduated BUT later loses accreditation status, the courseworks and degree are still recognized as coming from an accredited institution.

So having the poster wait till NCA accredits UAT won't help him/her since the poster graduated when it wasn't accredited by NCA.

An analogy if this concept is confusing.

MD schools in the US must be LCME accredited. If it is not LCME accredited, then its graduates cannot get licensed. Let's say Med School B opens and takes students (before LCME accreditation). Their first class graduated in 2009. Med School B finally gets accreditation in 2010. Graduates from 2009 are not eligible to be licensed since they graduated from an unaccredited school. Graduates from 2010 CAN be licensed since they graduated from an LCME accredited school. This situation ALMOST happened with regards to FSU but fortunately they got LCME accreditation before their first class graduated.


Welcome to the wacky world of higher education and federal type of government.

P.S. There is always the possibility that the transfer school MIGHT not check the date of accreditation and compare it to the date of graduation. What is the worse case scenerio? Well, the WORSE (worse of the worse) case is the school will later find out that the credits were transferred incorrectly and withdraw credits (even if you graduated). Taking away credits might mean you no longer satisfy the requiresments for a degree, so the degree can be rescinded. Now this is all hypothetical and I know of NO example of this actually happening, but it could (depending on the school, its by-laws and procedures for due-process)

 

[Violently_Happy]

I hope this might help put your mind at ease. UAT is possibly 3 years away from the NCA certification. While there is no "Grandfather Clause" or retroactive degree changes, the institution can set its own rules in a sense. This simply means that say you graduate or have already graduated and the university becomes NCA accredited after the fact, the university will send out a mass notice to all former students and to return to re-enroll and they will transfer in all credits and re-issue a NCA degree (They did the same thing when they changed their name a couple of years back). But there is a catch, as the always is. You would have to respond as quickly as possible and depending on the courses you took hope that they have not changed so dramaticly that you have to take them over. Otherwise you will have a NCA degree. I hope this might bring at least a smirk to your face.

 

[group_theory]

This last post is suspect at best.

First - the "limited time only" offer

Second, re-awarding degrees for alumni to by-pass that pesky accreditation process - in effect, misrepresenting the work done as being done by an accredited NCA institution (maybe fraud)

Third - awarding degrees with virtually no additional work will be viewed by those in academia as highly suspect and aid in the perception that the institution is a diploma mill

Fourth - it might actually violate rules and policies as set forth by either NCA, the state in which the school operates, OR the US Dept of Education (resulting in probation, loss of accreditation, loss of state charter to operate, or worse)

Accreditation is important because it sets standards and allows employers and other education institutions to trust the work done by accredited institutions. To simply by-pass this by re-awarding a diploma will not solve the accreditation problem but create new problems (new graduates will have their degree questioned as to whether they really graduated at the time that the institution was accredited)

Institutions (whether public or private) can choose to accept OR reject credits from other instutitions, accredited or not (Penn State /ASU mentioned earlier is a good example). If it is known that UAT re-issued degrees to its alumni who graduated before accreditation, then schools will still treat the coursework as being from an "unaccredited" institution.

The sad truth is that the OP went to a non-NCA accredited institution and graduated from it. There is nothing she can do about it - except hope that other post-secondary institutions are willing to accept credit from UAT. Trying to trick or by-pass the system is a BAD IDEA and I would be suspicious of any schools that try such tactics.