University Accreditation:

Our Path Forward

The Bottom Line: Fully Accredited, Financially Strong

The University of Lynchburg is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

Since first earning accreditation in 1927, our institution has consistently upheld the highest standards of quality, integrity, and educational value. This long and distinguished history of compliance is a testament to our enduring mission and the unwavering dedication of our faculty, staff, and the entire University community. We view accreditation not as a periodic hurdle, but as a vital and continuous process of self-reflection and improvement—a voluntary commitment to accountability that ensures we are not only meeting, but exceeding the expectations of our students and the public we serve.

Accreditation at the University of Lynchburg

The University of Lynchburg is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic quality and transparency. We believe it is essential for our students, parents, and community members to understand our accreditation status, the progress we are making, and our path forward.

Where We Are in the Accreditation Process

All accredited institutions—including ours—go through a full reaffirmation process every ten years. We are currently in our regularly scheduled 10-year reaffirmation cycle, which began with the submission of our Compliance Report in September 2023. The timeline below describes the various steps occurring since that time.

Decoding the 'Warning' Status

On December 8, 2024, the SACSCOC Board of Trustees reviewed the University’s status and took two distinct actions: it continued the University’s accreditation while simultaneously placing the institution on Warning for a twelve-month period.

What Does This Mean?

The Short Answer: The University remains fully accredited and financially strong.

✅ YES, the University of Lynchburg is fully accredited.

✅ YES, students remain eligible for all federal financial aid, including Pell Grants and federal loans.

✅ YES, the value of a Lynchburg degree is secure.

The SACSCOC review was NOT about the quality of our teaching, faculty, or academic programs. It was a call for better documentation of our financial model and improvement processes.

This is a critical distinction. A ‘Warning’ status is a formal notification that an institution has been found to have significant non-compliance with specific standards and must demonstrate correction and compliance within a set timeframe, which can be a maximum of two years. It is a call for focused action and enhanced documentation, a step that precedes more severe sanctions like Probation. The University has responded to this call with the seriousness and strategic resolve it demands.

18 Months of Remarkable Progress

The University's First Monitoring Report, submitted in October 2025, documented the extraordinary progress made by the University, since May 2024, to demonstrate financial responsibility, administrative effectiveness, and assessment of student [learning] outcomes.

What We Did: A Three-Part Strategy

Strategic Restructuring for a Sustainable Future

Achieving our financial turnaround required making difficult but necessary strategic decisions to align our expenses with our revenue and ensure the long-term health of the institution. In May 2024, the University undertook a comprehensive restructuring that included the elimination of 72 positions and the discontinuation of 17 academic programs (12 undergraduate and 5 graduate).

These actions were not taken lightly, but they were a responsible and proactive response to the immense pressures facing small, private, tuition-dependent universities across the nation. With dozens of similar institutions forced to close or merge in recent years, our leadership recognized that proactive realignment was essential to avoid a similar fate and to secure a thriving future for the University of Lynchburg. This restructuring was a direct and proactive measure to address the financial sustainability concerns raised by SACSCOC during their on campus visit and to position the University to weather the broader challenges of a shifting higher education landscape.

Fortifying Our Financial Foundation

The University’s financial improvement in Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 2025) has been remarkable. Through strategic restructuring and disciplined fiscal management, we have moved from a position of challenge to one of improving strength and stability. (Explore it here).

Overhauling Our Effectiveness and Assessment Systems

Parallel to our financial reforms, we executed a complete overhaul of our systems for institutional effectiveness to meet and exceed SACSCOC’s standards for documenting continuous improvement. This was not merely about fixing a reporting issue; it was about embedding a more robust, data-driven culture of assessment into the fabric of the University.

A More Agile Assessment Framework: We have replaced our previous assessment system with a more flexible and frequent Student Outcomes Assessment Framework. This new model utilizes two reporting cycles per academic year (Fall and Spring), allowing us to monitor progress, analyze results, and implement improvements in near real-time rather than waiting for an annual review.
Data-Driven Administrative Management: For our administrative and student support services, we have adopted the Objective Key Results (OKR) framework. This modern management methodology requires departments to set ambitious, measurable goals and regularly track their progress, tying performance data directly to strategic planning and continuous improvement.
Investing in Leadership: To guide these new processes, the University created and funded a new senior position, the Director of General Education and Outcomes Assessment, in July 2024. This investment in dedicated expertise ensures that our faculty and staff have the support they need to define measurable outcomes, analyze data effectively, and drive meaningful improvements across all programs and services.

Our Commitment: The 5 Levers

The University of Lynchburg has a clear path and the unified leadership to achieve its reaffirmation and ensure a strong, sustainable steady state. We are confident in our ability to meet these goals and emerge stronger as an institution.

Our response to SACSCOC is part of a larger, institution-wide 5-Lever Strategy designed for sustainable, long-term success. This is not a temporary fix; it's a foundation for a brighter future:

Expense Management: Implementing a multi-phase plan to achieve $2.5-$3 million in annual savings.
Recruitment & Yield Management: Driving new enrollment through enhanced digital presence, increased staff, and a focus on our highest conversion metric: campus visits.
Retention Management: Launching the LINK Mentorship Program and implementing a data-driven Proactive Outreach Framework to meet ambitious Fall-to-Fall, first-time, first-year student retention goals of 75%.
Academic & Athletic Innovation: Developing market-aligned programs like the 96-Credit-hour Bachelor of Applied Public Health; expanding successful programs like the DEL program and launching wrestling in our athletics offering.
Advancement: Accelerating scholarship timelines; Growing our donor base and increasing fundraising growth rates by 7% compounded annually over our 2024 baseline.

Why a Second Year of Warning Is a Good Sign

We fully expect SACSCOC to continue the 'Warning' for a second and final year. This is the anticipated and logical next step in the process. Here’s why:

The "Health Checkup" Analogy: Think of it this way: You can show impressive results after one year of a new health regimen (our FY 2025 results). But the doctor (SACSCOC) will want to see you maintain those results for a second year (our FY 2026 results) before declaring the change a permanent, sustainable lifestyle. This is not a sign of failure; it's a sign of a thorough, data-driven process.

A second year of warning will provide the University time to provide financial and assessment evidence:

SACSCOC needs to see the final, audited results from our balanced FY 2026 budget to confirm our financial turnaround is a permanent, multi-year trend.
They also need to see the results from a second full cycle of our new assessment systems to prove they are embedded in our culture.

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