As many of us are aware, MCC had planned on asking the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), of the North Central Association (NCA), for accreditation to offer an online degree

While MCC had hoped to include a request for institutional change as part of its current accreditation Self-Study, to offer an online degree, certain mitigating circumstances intervened; as a result, MCC has opted to postpone such a request until a later date.

There were three major reasons that the MCC Distance Learning Degree Review Sub-Committee recommended that MCC wait to proceed with this request.

 First, and foremost, the college was not able to hire an Associate Dean to head the program.  While a hiring committee did surface two outstanding finalists in the spring, in the end both candidates opted to pursue other interests.

Second, it was clear at the NCA Annual Convention in April, 2004 that the Higher Learning Commission had changed the accreditation criterion for online degree offerings; and the Sub-Committee did not feel comfortable with the uncertainty associated with the changes.

Finally, due to the uncertainty associated with the commission's new criterion, the Sub-Committee wanted to ensure that any request for online degree accreditation did not impact the Self-Study.

Consequently, MCC's application to the HLC, requesting approval to offer an online degree program, will not occur at this time.

The good news is that all of the work done by the committee over the last several months will still pay dividends. We will continue examine the HLC "vibes" and determine the best time to ask for permission to offer an online degree; certainly after the Self-Study Accreditation visit of March 9, 10, 11 and 12, 2005.

Additionally, the Sub-Committee will work with the Office of Research and Planning and the other five Self-Study Sub-Committees, to determine where the information gathered thus far on the college's online course offerings bests fits into the Self-Study report. Over the course of the next several weeks, the earlier created draft reports will be refined, edited and scrutinized, then merged seamlessly into the college's Self-Study Accreditation Report.