The Commission Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced today that Ave Maria University (AMU) has officially been awarded “accredited membership” status and is now an accredited member of the COC.
“We have been looking forward to this day for many years,” said Tom Monaghan, Founder and Chancellor. “As an institution of higher education, we set out to receive regional accreditation for the good of everyone associated with the university, and it is very gratifying to receive this recognition. We are excited about what this means for our alumni and the entire university community, especially our students.”
AMU currently offers 10 undergraduate majors: Biology; Classics; Economics; History; Literature; Mathematics; Music; Philosophy; Politics; and Theology. At its campus in Nicaragua, AMU also offers three degree programs in business administration, politics, and psychology. Additionally, AMU offers two masters degrees and a Ph.D. program in Theology.
SACS membership will directly benefit AMU students, especially those planning on entering post-graduate programs. Though AMU has been accredited by the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) since 2008, some graduate programs accept only alumni of regionally accredited schools. SACS is one of six regional accrediting associations that accredit institutions of higher education in the United States.
Membership also will impact university funding and makes AMU eligible to receive additional foundation grants and increased federal and state resources, which would allow the institution to improve and expand programs for students.
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Does this mean that students who graduated from Ave Maria in Michigan are finally accredited also?
Students don’t get accredited; universities do. Institutions do.
What it means is that we graduates of Ave Maria University can say that we graduated from an Accredited University.
The real question is not what accreditation will mean to Ave Maria but whether Ave Maria will be able to be true to its original mission now that it has gone “mainstream”.
The problem with taking federal and state funds is that they always come with conditions. With many Catholic universities failing to stay on the path on which they originally started, it remains to be seen whether Ave Maria can resist the same pressures that others have failed to withstand.
Frankly, setting aside the significance of accreditation to Ave Maria’s graduates, I see little to be gained to the university itself and, regrettably, much to be lost.
Time will tell.
Congrats! It took 14 years for my college to receive accreditation, 2 years after I graduated in 1982.
George, you are such a debby downer. Ave has been listed in the Newman Guide ever since its institution. Ave has been and will continue to be a school “from the heart of the Church.” Accditation simply recognizes what Ave has always been: an accademically challenging joyfully Catholic University.
I’m a current student at Ave Maria University and the SACS accreditation is retroactive to January 1, 2010. This means that students who graduated in Spring 2010 now have fully accredited degrees, and students who graduated as late as December 2009 do not. Accreditation will definitely help in getting to graduate school and I don’t think this accreditation will mess up the school in the slightest.
I am also a student at AMU and I agree with Michael 100%. The passion, faith, and bond among students will keep the AMU spirit in line with the Catholic Church.
How can you used technology to add class and additional degree offerings? Since the university is techno new, how are you creatively leveraging this technology beyond traditional approaches, i.e, coupling new technology with new approaches to leducation, not matching the technology to the traditional approaches to education.
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