The Commission is seeking a Director of Information Technology who will have hands-on responsibility for designing, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administering Commission-wide information services, resources and technology. They will provide leadership, planning, and management for the development, acquisition, and support of existing and new information technology systems, applications, services, and devices in support of constituent needs. This position reports to the Vice President and will routinely work directly with VP and Commission staff in the identification of business improvement opportunities and the development of strategic projects to support key Commission services and accreditation processes.

The Board of Trustees of The Higher Learning Commission, a Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, is pleased to announce the appointment of its new president, Dr. Sylvia Manning. Appointed by the Board at its regular meeting in February, Dr. Manning assumes the presidential role effective July 1, 2008, following the retirement of the Commission's long-term president, Steven Crow.

The U.S. Department of Education recently informed the Commission that federal regulations prohibit the Commission from granting “blanket approval” to institutions to open new sites without seeking prior Commission approval for each site through its formal change processes. If your institution has an exemption of one type or another related to approvals of each new degree site (or, more precisely for federal purposes, each site at which you offer over 50% of a degree), that exemption has been stated in the section of your Statement of Affiliation Status entitled “Approval of New Degree Sites.” The wording will start with “No prior Commission approval required for . . . ”

The Department’s expectation is that the Commission move quickly to initiate an approval mechanism for changes and additions to all off-campus sites. THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IS THREATENING NOT TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL AID FOR SITES SUBMITTED TO THE DOE BUT NOT REGISTERED WITH THE COMMISSION. In addition, the Department informed the Commission that it can no longer impose a threshold of 100 students for approval of an off-campus site..

The Commission has proposed a six-month timeframe during which the Commission will develop a long-term procedure for receiving and approving institutional requests to approve changes/additions at institutions proven to have strong and tested multi-site management programs. Our goal is to create an efficient web-based program. Clearly we will also have to amend our language on the Statement of Affiliation Status sheets for over 300 institutions that have received some form of “blanket approval.”

Please go to our Off-Campus Instructions for more information and to download the "Institutional ID List" and the "Worksheet for Reporting Off-Campus Sites".  You may also wish to read our FAQ - Registering Off-Campus Sites page.

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an independent corporation and one of two Commission members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), which was founded in 1895 as one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.  The Higher Learning Commission accredits, and thereby grants membership in the Commission and in the North Central Association, to degree-granting educational institutions in the North Central region: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

HLC is recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).