Accreditation
What is accreditation and why is it important?
Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition, by a governing body, of an educational institution. Accreditation is necessary to any educational institution to prove that they are maintaining suitable standards or quality. College of Eastern Idaho relies on the following accrediting associations standards to evaluate and accept college-level credits and all grades earned by transfer students:
- Accrediting Commission for Schools Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
- Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSCHE)
- New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NECHE)
- Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
- WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)
Credit Review Process
If your institution is not accredited by one of the above associations, then the Registrar’s office and campus departments will have to review your courses and will make the final decision if the courses will transfer. Should you wish to have your courses reviewed by the Registrar’s office, you must submit the following with your petition:
- A letter indicating the specific courses you want to have reviewed
- An official or unofficial transcript from the institution
- Course descriptions and syllabi for each course to be reviewed
The Office of the Registrar will then forward the course information to the corresponding academic department for their review. The departments at this time may request additional information from the student.
Upon approval by the departments, the decision on each petition will be returned to the Registrar’s Office, who in-turn will notify the student and record the approved courses on the transfer portion of the student’s transcript.
Credits earned at an institution that is a suspected diploma/degree mill will not be acceptable to College of Eastern Idaho.
According to guidelines under Standard Two of the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities (2.C.7; 2.C.8; 2.D.10), the NWCCU is in favor of utilizing prior learning assessment. Institutions may award up to 2/3 of the credits required for graduation through prior learning, including credits earned from CLEP tests, AP courses, IB courses, and military and corporate training transcripts.
Guidelines for Acceptance of Transfer Credit
- Students who apply for admission and submit official transcripts may have coursework evaluated for transfer of credit after having attended other post-secondary institutions.
- CEI will NOT transfer technical credits toward an AA or AS degree.
- All credit accepted will be recorded as part of a student’s permanent academic history and will not be removed.
- The age of transfer credit may affect course content equivalents and fulfillment of specific degree or certificate requirements (i.e., math).
- College of Eastern Idaho accepts transfer credit but does not compute grades from other colleges and universities into their CEI institutional GPA.
- Transfer credit (with the exception of Idaho GEM Stamped Courses) will not be granted for any course in which a student received less than a (C-).
- Math grades used for placement purposes and older than five (5) years, will not be transferred to College of Eastern Idaho.
- Test scores (ALEKS, Accuplacer, etc.,) older than two (2) years cannot be used for placement purposes.
- ACT/SAT scores older that five (5) years cannot be used for placement.
- Idaho State Board of Education requires that all courses taken at a regionally accredited Idaho institution of higher learning and fall under the category of GEM stamped must be transcribed, however if a course is transferred to College of Eastern Idaho and does not meet the institutional grade standards of (C-) the student will be required to repeat the course if it is needed for their program.
- Some CEI CTE programs have higher grade requirements than general CEI requirements. If a grade in a transfer course does not meet program requirements, the course will have to be retaken.
Exceptions
Students may request further review of transfer credit after initial evaluation by using the Transfer Equivalency Request form to request a course equivalent, a substitution of non-equivalent transfer credit to satisfy specific degree or certificate requirements, and/or the acceptance of credit from schools not regionally accredited.
Students may be required to provide a course description or course syllabus prior to review.
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