HLC Site Visits

Next Steps for HLC Approval for Fall 2023 Programs

• The HLC Site Visit team has approximately four weeks to complete their report and recommendation which could include approval, approval with modifications, approval with monitoring, or denial. The report will be sent to the college's HLC liaison for initial review. 

• The HLC Site Visit team will send their report and recommendation to the college president and Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO), and the college will be able to address issues of factual inaccuracies.

• The site team recommendation will then be forwarded to the HLC Institutional Actions Council (IAC) for final action (estimated to be in late fall or early spring).

• Approximately two weeks after this meeting a final action by the IAC or Board of Trustees, an Action Letter is sent to the institution, relaying the final action of approval or denial.

• After HLC approval is received, the college will submit the Program Participation Agreement (PPA) to the US Department of Education to begin the Federal Financial Aid approval process.

What is the focus of the visit?

The visit is much different in scope than the HLC comprehensive site visits many of us are familiar with and will be very focused on discussing the new award level being proposed and the college readiness to offer bachelor’s degrees. 

It is important to separate out HLC site visit readiness and implementation readiness. You don’t have to have all the detailed answers now about how we will enroll, admit, teach, and graduate bachelor’s degree students in our systems and day-to-day work. What is important for the site visits is that we have considered what this new level of a bachelor's degree means for our business processes and policies and that we have high-level answers that are in alignment with the HLC guidelines (e.g. we know we will be packaging federal financial aid for junior and seniors), and that we have an implementation plan to address the specifics (e.g., we are working with our functional teams to prepare our SIS system and have professional development to ensure we can package aid appropriately).

Also as we know, we are individually accredited, but many of our processes and policies are shared across the system. It is important that we answer for what we can answer and explain where shared processes and solutions are involved, e.g. updating hiring qualifications and common pages.

What resources are available to support me?

Town Halls/Open Forums

If you were unable to attend one of the town halls and open forums, some have been recorded and are shared for your reference.