Loss of Accreditation: Causes, Impact, and Advice for Students

Colleges rarely lose accreditation, but when they do, it can throw students’ academic plans into chaos.

Thankfully, there are systems in place meant to lessen the impact on students if their school loses accreditation. There typically are warning signs to help students prepare for the potential loss of accreditation, and if that final shoe does drop, students are offered pathways to continue their studies at an accredited school or program.

Read on to learn what happens if your school loses accreditation.

Students aren’t immediately doomed if their school loses accreditation. Your college or university isn’t supposed to leave you high and dry, as there are systems in place to help students transition from one institution to another.

Federal law requires an institution to establish a “teach-out plan” with another college or university if it loses its accreditation status.

Essentially, this means that the school losing accreditation must create a transfer pathway for currently enrolled students. According to federal regulations, this must happen if an accreditor plans to either completely withdraw accreditation status or place the institution on probationary status.

A teach-out agreement is a formal contract between schools or programs.

The other institution agreeing to the teach-out plan must be able to provide equivalent services without requiring students to “move or travel for substantial distances or durations.” The agreement must also include information about the number and type of credits it is willing to accept.

Jamienne Studley, president emerita of the WASC Senior College and University Commission and former deputy undersecretary of the Department of Education, told ASO that a teach-out school needs to be in compliance with an accreditor’s standards and in good standing. Accreditors encourage institutions to offer students multiple options of other schools to complete their program, and oversee the process to see that students are transitioning satisfactorily.

This means a teach-out plan could involve students transferring from a public or nonprofit institution to a for-profit school.

Studley said teach-out plans typically try to maintain the same modality, meaning online students won’t be required to suddenly start attending in-person classes.

The most immediate effect of your school losing accreditation is that it will no longer be able to disburse federal financial aid to students. This means losing out on:

Additionally, a degree from an unaccredited institution isn’t seen as valuable to most employers. Accreditation matters because it acts as a quality indicator, so future employers may view your degree from an unaccredited institution as suspicious or disregard the credential entirely.

Losing accreditation typically doesn’t happen overnight. Here’s what students should keep an eye on regarding their college or university’s accreditation status.

College accreditation agencies regularly monitor and review the institutions they accredit.

Occasionally, a review finds that a school is not in compliance with one or more of the agency’s standards. When this happens, the agency typically issues a public warning to the college, university, or individual program.

The school can then try to take corrective action to fix the noncompliance issue that caused the warning.

While under a warning, a school may be subject to increased scrutiny and more frequent reviews. Additionally, the school or program is required to alert students of its warning status.

An accreditor may place an institution or program on probationary status if it fails to fix noncompliance issues.

It’s also worth noting that a school doesn’t need to be placed on warning first and then probation. Depending on the severity of the infraction, an accreditor’s board of trustees can choose to skip a warning.

During probation or other sanction, a school or program must establish its teach-out plan. Read this plan carefully to determine whether you want to continue your enrollment in your current program or transfer to another institution, and what your rights are if you decide not to continue your studies. Schools are expected to provide information and advisors to assist students in understanding their choices.

Studley told ASO that students should also carefully read the reasons why their institution or program is under probation. This helps students determine whether their studies may be in immediate danger.

“Questions students should ask include: ‘Is this something that’s going to affect me immediately, how long [does the institution] have to sort this out, and do I trust my institution?'” Studley said.

Probation typically lasts no more than two years, but an agency has the latitude to extend it. During this period, the accreditor will continue to monitor the institution and periodically review a school or program to see if it has addressed the flagged noncompliance issues or if new issues emerge.

Eventually, an agency may take the action to withdraw the accreditation of an institution or program.

When it does so, the accreditor will send a formal letter to the college or university. In that letter, the agency details exactly which accreditation criteria the institution failed to meet and how.

Accreditors also then require the institution to disclose the fact that it is losing accreditation, including to:

Many college programs, especially at the graduate level, have both institutional and programmatic accreditation. The institutional accreditor oversees the entire college or university, while the programmatic accreditor focuses on just one program within the school.

This means the effects on students could differ depending on which accreditation is lost.

The primary downside to losing institutional accreditation is that your degree may not carry weight with future employers.

Graduating from an unaccredited institution means future employers may not value your degree or may value it less than if you had earned a degree from an accredited institution. Essentially, without accreditation, there’s little way for employers to measure the value of your education.

You will also no longer be able to access federal financial aid if you stay enrolled in an institution that lost accreditation.

Listing accreditation may also be a signal that your institution may close completely in the near future, especially if it lost accreditation for financial reasons.

If your program loses programmatic accreditation — especially a graduate-level program — you should first check how this loss could affect future licensing prospects.

Many professional fields require that students graduate from a program with programmatic accreditation to gain licensure. For example, to become a licensed clinical social worker, you must graduate with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

If your program loses CSWE accreditation, you may no longer be eligible for licensure, depending on your state.

If your program loses programmatic accreditation and you intend to enter a field that requires this, you should seriously consider following whatever teach-out plan is offered. Otherwise, the money and time spent in your graduate program may not get you where you want to go in your career.

Studley said students should carefully consider the pros and cons of transferring with or without a teach-out plan.