Southeastern University, a small private school in Southwest D.C., lost its accreditation effective Aug. 31 and is not offering any classes this fall.
The university does not anticipate closing permanently, according to Elaine Ryan, interim president. Southeastern intends to merge with another institution so the campus will continue to serve the purpose of higher education; however, the school has no definite plans with any potential partners.
Talaekah Brooks, former dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs at Southeastern and current dean of Trinity University’s School of Professional Studies, said Southeastern is currently dedicated to merging with an institution that would continue to serve the university’s previous demographic of local, low-income students.
“They’re very committed to making sure that that working professional, that D.C.-based working adult, has an opportunity to get an education,” Brooks said.
Last fall, 645 students were enrolled in the school, and over 300 graduated in June, according to The Washington Post.
Another 150 to 200 Southeastern students transferred to the University of District of Columbia, according to Brooks.
Every university must continue to comply with 14 specific standards in order to maintain its accreditation, according to Director of Communications and Publications of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education Richard Pokrass. The Commission was responsible for removing Southeastern’s accreditation. This is the first time in over a decade the Commission has removed a school’s accreditation.
Unless an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education accredits a university, its students are ineligible for federal financial aid and are usually ineligible for state financial aid as well, according to Pokrass. Schools typically shut down after losing their accreditation, mostly because so many students require financial aid.
The factors that contributed most to Southeastern’s loss of accreditation were that it had little strategic planning, could not prove it had adequate financial resources to survive and employed too few faculty members for its number of programs, Pokrass said. The school had less than 12 full-time faculty at one point, he said.
Brooks said this was partially because before Sept. 11, Southeastern catered to a mostly international demographic. After the terrorist attacks, however, the federal government imposed stricter entrance guidelines for international students attempting to study in the U.S. International students do not qualify for financial aid and must be self-paying, while local students are largely on financial aid.
“As you can imagine, if you were 70 percent international and you can’t get international students, you have enrollment problems,” Brooks said. “When you have enrollment problems, [no] cash-paying students, then you have financial problems. So they kind of tie together.”
Southeastern University was first accredited in 1977, according to the Middle States Commission Web site.
The Commission reaffirmed the university’s accreditation in 2001, however problems first began in 2003 when the Commission requested a report documenting the school’s progress in areas such as enrollment management and strengthening the institution’s finances, according to Pokrass. The report Southeastern produced was not satisfactory. However, the Commission gave them a warning in 2005 and again in 2007. The school was placed on probation in January 2008.
On March 5, 2009, the Commission decided to remove Southeastern’s accreditation and require the university to submit a plan to transfer all students not able to graduate by Aug. 31.
Between 2006 and 2009, Southeastern went to great lengths in an attempt to keep its accreditation, according to Brooks. The school shut down its troubled online program, developed more aggressive learning assessment measures, revamped its student services, hired new full-time faculty members and created a new strategic plan. However, the efforts were not enough.
The Middle States Commission is one of six regional accrediting commissions, according to the Higher Education Accreditation Commission Web site.
You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.
