Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Criteria: A Comprehensive Overview

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is a prominent institutional accreditor in the United States, responsible for evaluating and accrediting post-secondary educational institutions. Historically, its scope has encompassed institutions in the central United States, including Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The Role of Institutional Accreditation

The responsibility for assuring the quality of an institution rests first with the institution itself. Institutional accreditation assesses the capacity of an institution to assure its own quality and expects it to produce evidence that it does so. As with each accrediting body, the HLC develops its own standards and criteria to determine accreditation and conducts evaluations through a rigorous review process. The goal of reaccreditation is to assure students, as well as families and employers, that the University provides a quality educational experience.

HLC's Accreditation Criteria: Standards of Quality

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) evaluates its member institutions according to five Criteria for Accreditation, which are the standards of quality by which the HLC determines whether an institution merits accreditation or reaffirmation of accreditation. Each of these criteria includes Core Components that further detail the HLC's expectations. Criteria for Accreditation reflect HLC Guiding Values; HLC articulates these guiding values as context for understanding its Criteria for Accreditation and their underlying intentions.

In preparing for a review, an institution may provide evidence relevant to additional topics related to a Core Component beyond those specified in any HLC resource document.

Assumed Practices

In addition, institutions are required to abide by a set of standard practices shared by institutions of higher education in the United States called Assumed Practices, which are a set of practices shared by institutions of higher education in the United States. Unlike Criteria and Core Components, these Assumed Practices are (1) generally matters to be determined as facts, rather than matters requiring professional judgment; and (2) unlikely to vary by institutional mission or context.

The Five Criteria for Accreditation

The HLC's accreditation process is structured around five core criteria that institutions must meet to achieve or maintain accreditation. These criteria assess various aspects of an institution's operations, from its mission and integrity to its resources and effectiveness.

Criterion 1: Mission

How Illinois State conveys its mission is the focus of the Higher Learning Commission’s Criterion 1. Mission is foundational to an institution’s curriculum, instructional activities and the success of its students. Mission further informs an institution’s research and innovation pursuits, its community engagement activities and services, its role within the higher education ecosystem, its student body, and its decisions regarding operations and resource allocations. When demonstrating that it meets the Criteria for Accreditation, an institution has the opportunity to reflect on the significance of its distinctive mission as well as across the wider higher education landscape. Specifically, the distinctiveness of an institution’s mission may inform the strategies it adopts and the evidence it provides to demonstrate that it meets each Criterion and Core Component.

This criterion focuses on the institution's mission, its clarity, and its relevance to the institution's activities. Key aspects include:

1.A.
1.B.
1.C.

Criterion 2:

2.A.
2.B.
2.C.
2.D.
2.E.

Criterion 3: Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support

The institution demonstrates responsibility for the quality of its educational programs, learning environments and support services, and it evaluates their effectiveness in fulfilling its mission.

This criterion addresses the quality of the institution's educational programs, learning environments, and support services. It emphasizes the institution's responsibility for ensuring effective learning experiences and evaluating the success of its programs. Key components include:

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3.A.
3.B. The general education program is appropriate to the mission, educational offerings and degree levels of the institution. The program of general education is grounded in a philosophy or framework developed by the institution or adopted from an established framework.
3.C.
3.D. The institution provides for learning support and preparatory instruction to address the academic needs of its students.
3.E.
3.F.
3.G.

Criterion 4: Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness

4.A. The institution maintains and exercises authority over the prerequisites for courses, rigor of courses, expectations for student learning, access to learning resources, and faculty qualifications for all its programs, including dual credit programs. The institution evaluates the success of its graduates. The institution ensures that the credentials it represents as preparation for advanced study or employment accomplish these purposes.
4.B. The institution’s financial and personnel resources effectively support its current operations.
4.C. The institution engages in systematic strategic planning for quality improvement.

Criterion 5:

5.A.
5.B.
5.C.

HLC's Review Process

Illinois State participates in a ten-year cycle of accreditation, with 2024 being the end of the current cycle. HLC is soliciting feedback regarding Illinois State as part of the reaccreditation process.

The HLC employs a comprehensive review process to determine whether an institution meets its criteria for accreditation. This process typically involves:

Self-Study: The institution conducts a thorough self-evaluation, preparing a report that demonstrates how it meets each of the HLC's criteria.
Peer Review: A team of peer reviewers, composed of faculty and administrators from other accredited institutions, visits the campus to review the institution's self-study and conduct interviews with faculty, staff, and students.
Commission Action: Based on the self-study and the peer review team's report, the HLC makes a decision regarding the institution's accreditation status.

Policy Changes

We partner with member institutions and other stakeholders to define policies for quality higher education. As a federally recognized accreditor, HLC is responsible for verifying that member institutions comply with certain federal regulations.

Meeting 1: Proposed Change Considered for Preliminary Approval. A proposed change is considered for approval by the Board on first reading. If approved, HLC invites institutions, peer reviewers and others to submit comments on the proposal.

Meeting 2: Proposed Change Considered for Final Adoption. At its next meeting, the Board considers any comments submitted before determining whether to adopt the change on second reading. We welcome input about HLC policy at any time. The Criteria for Accreditation convey the standards of quality by which HLC determines whether an institution merits accreditation or reaffirmation of accreditation.

AQIP: An Alternative Accreditation Pathway

In addition to the traditional accreditation pathway, the HLC offered the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) as an alternative approach to accreditation. AQIP, which is no longer offered, emphasized continuous quality improvement and innovation. The program took a collaborative approach with "Strategy Forums" where groups of institutions shared their insights about the "Action Projects" they undertook to address various challenges. The records of Action Projects were stored in an online network that other participants could access and use as guidance for future improvements. In order to elect participation in AQIP, institutions were required to be accredited for ten years and to have demonstrated established foundations in "expected practice" under traditional pathways.

Concerns and Oversight

Historically, the Higher Learning Commission's oversight of for-profit colleges has faced scrutiny. In one instance, the Department of Education (OIG-ED) criticized the Higher Learning Commission's oversight of for-profit colleges and recommended that the agency consider "limiting, suspending, or terminating the organization's status." Although the OIG reaffirmed their recommendation that the department consider sanctions for the HLC the following year, adding critical reviews of HLC's accreditation of American InterContinental University and The Art Institute of Colorado, the Department of Education did not withdraw or limit HLC's accreditation authority.

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