July 13, 2011 05:22 PM
We’ve seen a lot of cuts to higher education in Florida in recent years, and the country’s largest college may be paying a price for it.
Miami Dade College has been warned from its accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, that it doesn’t have enough full-time faculty to carry out its mission, thus putting its accreditation in jeopardy. Check out my story here. It’s rare for a school to lose accreditation, but if it does, the consequences are dire. A school can’t received federal financial aid money, and most other schools won’t accept credits from an unaccredited institution.
This will be an important issue to watch over the next year to see if this is an isolated instance of a school that may have grown beyond its capacity, or whether it’s an ominous sign for other community colleges and public universities in the state. All have faced similar budget cuts and all are accredited by the same body.
The best case scenario for Miami Dade College would be if is a merely a data reporting problem, in which the school is meeting its mission, but just failed to clearly explain that to the Southern Association. The school will submit an updated report to the accrediting body this fall.
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Categories: Miami-Dade College (19)
