CHC Still Fully Accredited

Accreditation

• California Community Colleges are required to be regionally accredited.
• Our accrediting agency is the Accrediting Commission of Community & Junior Colleges, ACCJC. 
• We are governed by the San Bernardino Community College District (Board of Trustees, Chancellor, Human Resources, Fiscal Services) which provides central services for CHC and San Bernardino Valley College. Those services are part of the accreditation requirements and must also meet standards.

• Every six years, colleges must complete a self-evaluation dictating how they meet the standards set by ACCJC.
• CHC completed its 385+ page report late last summer.
• A team of our peers (faculty, staff and administrators from other community colleges) visited the campus in October, interviewed faculty, staff and student leadership, and looked at our evidence cited in the self-evaluation.
• They also visited the District Office to evaluate their standards, which include board governance, fiscal services and human resources.
• The visiting team provides a written report of their findings to the ACCJC, which then determine if our accreditation should be reaffirmed.

Results

• ACCJC determined that our college has some deficiencies to address and so does the District Office, before reaffirming our accreditation for six years. In the meantime, we are still fully accredited.
• The College has until March 15, 2016 to address these recommendations, as does the District Office. A report must be submitted at that time indicating how we have fixed our deficiencies.
• Specifically, Crafton Hills has six recommendations and the District Office has four. The letter from ACCJC listing the recommendations is posted on the CHC website, along with progress reports from the College that will be updated throughout the next 18 months.

Response

• CHC will hold Open Forums to keep the campus abreast of our progress on the accreditation recommendations. The forums will be advertised on the CHC website, Facebook and Twitter. Plus, the progress reports will be posted on the CHC website.

BOTTOM LINE

• CHC is still fully accredited; units still transfer, degrees are still valid.
• CHC is working collaboratively with the District Office and everyone on campus to ensure the ACCJC recommendations are addressed by March 15, 2016.
• We should know by June 2016 if the Commission believes we have addressed their concerns and if our accreditation will be reaffirmed.

Please know that student success is still our main focus! Everyone at CHC is committed to helping our students achieve their educational, professional and personal goals.