TESU Wording Newly Friendly to DOED-Recognized Institutionally Accredited Credit

[Jonathan Whatley]

TESU appears to have recently reworded their policies to now state they accept credit "from entities accredited by institutional accreditors recognized by the U.S. Department of Education."

"Regional accreditation" is no longer stipulated directly, nor does it appear to be implied – for example, they don't stipulate a list of institutional accreditors they accept that just happens to be the traditional list of regional accreditors – in the main body text on the undergraduate catalog page Transfer Credit, the graduate catalog page Transfer Credit, or the Transfering Credit landing page in the Admissions section of the site.

There are several places on TESU's website that specify a regional accreditation requirement specifically, but generally they seem less official and may not have been updated, including in part Academic Credit FAQs and a 2016 blog post on NA vs. RA.

For admission to TESU master's programs, "The University requirement for admission to any master’s degree program is the demonstration of the completion of a bachelor’s degree from an institution recognized under our Transfer Credit Policy."

A regionally accredited master's is still at this time a stated requirement for admission to TESU's DBA and EdD.

"Institutionally accredited" absent any indication otherwise implies a superset that includes nationally accredited (NA).

This might open up some new degree planning options.

[Kab]

That a great finding. This can be really good for some people to finish a bachelor they started somewhere else or even to go to a RA Master coming from a NA Bachelor. I am sure you made a lot of people happy today!

[davewill]

It never made much sense to accept ACE credit but not NA credit. Can't wait to see someone actually succeed in transferring NA credit in. I wouldn't be too surprised if they slap some kind of credit limit like they do for ACE on NA credit, but they really shouldn't need to.

It's a shame that their Master's programs aren't more affordable.

[bjcheung77]

Someone should try, I think I read from an earlier post/thread that someone was successful in applying their NA credits. But I don't recall if those NA credits came from Genesis University, Penn Foster, or something else that already has ACE or NCCRS recommendation for credit. Someone may want to search the board as there may have been a post of this forum or the sister one...

[studyingfortests]

It's my understanding that regional accreditors are no longer bound to accredit schools only in their geographic regions, and schools can choose to see accrediation from an accreditor in a different region. Thus prompting the shift to the term "institutional accreditation" instead of "regional accreditation." But this, of course, then muddies the line between regional accreditors and other accreditors such as DEAC.

I agree with BJCheung. It would be interesting to see if this is a wording change, or an actual shift in policy.

[jch]

It would be a typical TESU move to change the wording of a policy without changing the practical application, or vice versa. Also interested in the impacts.

[Jonathan Whatley]

I found more about how TESU’s shift to accepting NA transfer credit came to be. The minutes of the TESU Board of Trustees Meeting of September 8, 2023 includes on pages 3 and 4:

CONSIDERATION OF UPDATED TRANSFER CREDIT POLICY

Dr. Baum [the Provost] discussed the proposed changes to the policy.

Mr. Maloney [the Chair of the Board of Trustees] presented the following resolution:

WHEREAS: The Board of Trustees of Thomas Edison State University has the authority and the responsibility for oversight of academic governance; and

WHEREAS: The University Academic Council of Thomas Edison State University (TESU) has the authority and the responsibility to recommend through the Provost and President to the Board of Trustees the University educational curriculum and academic policies; and

WHEREAS: TESU has the responsibility to ensure its policies are clear and consistent to the extent appropriate across the student populations; and

WHEREAS: TESU currently accepts transfer credit from former regionally accredited institutions; and

WHEREAS: In 2019, the US Department of Education altered accreditation definitions removing former “regional” accreditors’ status and placing all accreditors of educational entities (not programs) under a single classification entitled “Institutional”; and

WHEREAS: The Middle States Commission on Higher Education in April 2020 endorsed the Statement of Principles on Acceptance of Credit, which specifies that “the award of credit should not be denied based on the type of accreditation of the sending institution, provided that the institution’s accreditor is, and remains, recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or the U.S. Department of Education.

WHEREAS: In 2020, TESU modified the Transfer Credit Policy to recognize the Department of Education’s new “Institutional” classification; however, TESU continued to limit the acceptance of transfer credit to the former regional accreditors; and

WHEREAS: The Provost’s Cabinet reviewed the expansion of the Transfer Credit Policy to accept transfer credit from US Department of Education institutionally accredited institutions and recommends presentation to the University Academic Council; and

WHEREAS: The Provost and Senior Vice President of the University reviewed and approved the recommendation from the Provost’s Cabinet to present the updated Transfer Credit Policy to the University Academic Council, and

WHEREAS: The University Academic Council of Thomas Edison State University supports presenting the Transfer Credit Policy to the Board of Trustees; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED: That the Board of Trustees of Thomas Edison State University does hereby adopt and affirm the Transfer Credit Policy as presented and incorporated herein by reference.

Mr. Maloney moved, and Ms. Stockman [a trustee] seconded, a motion to adopt the resolution. Motion carried unanimously.

This seems to imply that TESU now accepts NA credit categorically as a policy, not just case-by-case.

[wow]

Great research! Thanks for sharing this.