San Antonio College, Northwest Vista College and St. Philip’s College are no longer at risk of losing their accreditation.
The three schools from the Alamo Colleges District have been taken off warning status by their accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The Southern Association placed SAC, Northwest Vista and St. Philip’s on warning status a year ago, raising concerns students could lose financial aid or the ability to transfer to a four-year university.
To avoid those potential future consequences, the three colleges took steps to prove their independence. The association asked them to take those steps because the individual schools are accredited, not the Alamo Colleges District.
“It’s welcome news. We worked hard to make sure that all of the citations were dealt with to the extreme manner of being dealt with,” said Yvonne Katz, chair of the district’s board of trustees.
Pamela Cravey, a spokesperson for the Southern Association, confirmed Tuesday that SAC, Northwest Vista and St. Philip’s are no longer on warning status. According to the Alamo Colleges District officials, the Southern Association also approved Northeast Lakeview College for accreditation during the association’s annual meeting, and renewed Palo Alto College’s accreditation.
“We’re just absolutely super excited that all five of our colleges are fully accredited,” Katz said. “Northeast Lakeview has spent ten years getting fully accredited now, and so that will open up all kinds of opportunities for Northeast Lakeview, and I know they’re just absolutely celebrating today. Everyone is at the Alamo Colleges District.”
Katz said Northeast Lakeview will likely see an increase in enrollment now that it is accredited. Since SAC, Northwest Vista and St. Philip’s never lost accreditation, they never lost their ability to offer federal financial aid or faced any other consequences.
Camille Phillips can be contacted at Camille@tpr.org or on Twitter @cmpcamille