Accreditation is a status granted to an institution that meets or exceeds specific criteria of educational quality as defined by the accrediting agency. The purposes of the accreditation process is to engage peers within the higher education community to assess and suggest enhancements of the educational quality of an institution, to assure consistency in institutional operations, to promote institutional improvement, and to provide for public accountability and transparency.

Accreditation is a deliberate, thorough, and voluntary process. Accrediting agencies assess compliance with their published academic and administrative standards and look for a continuous commitment to striving for excellence by the institutions they accredit.

For students and parents, accreditation serves as an indicator that an institution is committed to delivering a quality education by providing an external and objective endorsement of instructional quality.

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Institutional Accreditation

West Coast University is a senior university accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) to award Bachelor of Science Degrees in Nursing, Dental Hygiene, and Health Care Administration, and Master of Science Degrees in Nursing and Health Care Management.
 
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools is listed by the United States Department of Education as a National Institutional Accrediting Agency. Its accreditation of degree-granting institutions also is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

 
Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools
750 First Street, NE, Suite 980
Washington, DC 20002-4241
(202) 306-6780
www.acics.org 

Programmatic Accreditation

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

The pre-licensure nursing programs offered at West Coast University are also approved in California through the Board of Registered Nursing located at:
 
1625 North Market Boulevard, Suite N217
Sacramento, CA 95834-1924
(916) 322-3350
 
The Baccalaureate Degree Program in Nursing is programmatically accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
 
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 887-6791
www.aacn.nche.edu/CCNE/reports/accprog.asp 
 

Bachelor of Science In Dental Hygiene

The Dental Hygiene program is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) and has been granted the accreditation status of “initial accreditation.”
 
Accredited dental hygiene programs are reviewed by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) on a routine basis.  The Commission will conduct a site visit of the Dental Hygiene program at the West Coast University Orange County campus from October 5-6, 2010. The United States Department of Education (USDE) procedures require accrediting agencies to provide an opportunity for third-party comments with respect to institutions or programs scheduled for review. All comments must relate to accreditation standards for the discipline and/or accrediting policies. CODA standards can be reviewed on the ADA.org website.

 
Comments should be submitted to: Third Party Comments, Commission on Dental Accreditation, 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611; or faxed to 312-440-2915 within 60 days of the site visit. Third party comments related to the Dental Programs Site Visit at West Coast University are due to CODA by August 5, 2010.

Notice- Invitation for Third Party Comments  

Commission on Dental Accreditation
211 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-2678
(312) 440-2500
http://www.ada.org/

Transferability and Accreditation FAQs

Click here to download our Accreditation FAQ PDF 

What is Transferability of Credit?

In short, transferability of credit is the willingness of one learning institution to accept a student’s completed coursework from another institution. Unless the institution from which the student earned the credits maintains a written agreement with the new institution wherein they agree to accept the credits (commonly known as an articulation agreement), no college or university can guarantee that another institution will accept transfer credits. The receiving institution always makes the decision, and the rules, surrounding its acceptance of transfer credits.

What are things that Universities review to determine acceptability of transfer credits?

Common factors used in determining acceptability of credits are: course name, course description, course learning outcomes, course credits earned, a student’s earned grade in the course, how long it has been since the student earned the grade and the accreditation of the institution from which the credits were earned.

What is Accreditation and why does it matter?

The purpose of accreditation is to validate that an institution or program is doing what it says it is doing and that the institution is operating within the scope and standards of the accrediting body. In many respects, accreditation is a quality assurance program wherein professionals from outside of the institution review the University based upon the standards of the accrediting body.

There are two types of academic accreditation, as recognized by the United States Department of Education: Institutional and Programmatic. Institutional accreditation reviews and approves entire colleges or universities. There are two types of institutional accreditation: regional and national. Regional accreditation, as the name implies, is geographically specific. California falls within the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) regional accrediting body. Historically, regional bodies accredited traditional public and private universities. National accreditation bodies accredit institutions, regardless of their geographic location. National accrediting bodies also tend to focus on institutions that are more career-focused.

Programmatic accreditation refers to specialized accreditation based on specific programs of study. Commonly know bodies include the American Bar Association (ABA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). These bodies have no oversight or authority over institutions – they simply have oversight for specific programs of study.

Not all institutions are accredited. Accreditation is voluntary. However, only institutions accredited by accrediting bodies recognized by the United States Department of Education (such as West Coast University) are allowed to participate in Title IV financial aid programs.

While an accredited institution may have multiple programmatic accreditations, they typically only have one institutional accreditation – regional or national. WCU is institutionally accredited as a Senior University by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), a national accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Additionally, WCU’s Bachelor in Nursing program is accredited by CCNE and its Dental Hygiene program has been granted “initial accreditation” by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).

How does Accreditation affect transferability of credits?

In that regionally accredited institutions are largely comprised of traditional academic institutions, one regionally accredited university is more likely to accept credits from a regionally accredited institution. While this is not always the case, transfer from regional to regional increases the likelihood of the credits being accepted at the new institution. And, students desiring to transfer credits or degrees from a nationally accredited institution to another nationally accredited institution, also experience a higher probability of success.

However, unless a nationally accredited institution has a written agreement with a regionally accredited university (known as an articulation agreement), it is unlikely that the regionally accredited institution will accept the student’s transfer credits or degree. To demonstrate this point, a national study showed that only 14% of regionally accredited institutions accepted credits from nationally accredited institutions.* So while it is not common for regionally accredited institutions to accept the credits of students who have attended nationally accredited institutions, exceptions are made.

How can I increase the probability that a regionally accredited university will accept my credits from a nationally accredited institution?

In order for a student to increase their chances for success in transferring credits, they need to make sure they retain course descriptions, syllabi, textbooks and assignments. On a course by course basis, students can request evaluation of their completed coursework. Students must understand that the Admissions Departments at most universities will typically only give them the answer that is within their catalog regarding transferability.

In order to achieve exceptions, a student usually must appeal to department chairs of the programs they are interested in pursuing in order to have their academic portfolio assessed.

If a student seeks to transfer a bachelor’s degree into a graduate program that only accepts degrees from regionally accredited institutions, the student should consider meeting with the department Dean or Chair at the desired institution, explain the circumstances and present portfolios of work. Graduate level program acceptance occurs not solely through Admissions, but through faculty committees and processes. In cases where students are applying for enrollment into a graduate program that builds on the bachelor degree, programmatic accreditation is increasingly valuable (e.g., Bachelor of Science in Nursing to Master of Science in Nursing). And, where the institution from which a student has graduated shares the identical accreditation to the target graduate institution, probability of acceptance increases.

Although there are ways to improve the chances that credits or degrees will transfer, it is always up to the receiving institution, and it is unlikely that such transfer will occur between WCU and other Colleges and Universities.

*2006 study by the University Continuing Education Association, Washington D.C.