Accreditation

Clark College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities1 (8060 165th Avenue NE, Suite 100, Redmond, WA 98052), a regional institutional accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

Types of Accreditation

There are three types of accreditation in the United States: institutional, national, and specialized or programmatic. On July 1, 2020, the United States Department of Education’s (USDE) regulations eliminated the designation of regional accreditor and, thus, the seven regional accreditors, such as NWCCU, are now referred to as institutional accreditors.

  • An institution may not be accredited by more than one institutional accrediting agency. It may, however, be accredited by an institutional accreditor and a national accreditor and/or have one or more of its academic programs accredited by specialized or programmatic accrediting agencies.
  • Students attending accredited institutions may be eligible to apply for U.S. federal financial aid. Accreditation also helps ensure that credits and degrees are generally recognized for purposes of transfer, admission to other institutions, and employment.
  • In many countries, the maintenance of educational standards is a governmental function; in the U.S., in contrast, accreditation is peer-driven and accrediting organizations are funded by the dues paid by member institutions. Review teams predominantly comprising experts and representatives from similar institutions evaluate an institution for initial accreditation or reaffirmation of accreditation.
  •  No institution in the U.S. is required to seek accreditation, but because of the recognized benefits of the process, including student eligibility for Title IV and other federal and state funds, most eligible institutions have sought to become accredited.

Several of the college's programs are also accredited by program-specific accrediting bodies:

  • The associate degree Nursing program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc.1 (formerly known as the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission).
  • The Dental Hygiene program is accredited by the American Dental Association, Commission on Dental Accreditation.1
  • The Medical Assistant certificate program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.
  • The Addiction Counselor program is accredited by the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission.
  • The Automotive T-TEN program is accredited by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation and is a certified Toyota Technician Training Education Network (T-TEN) program.
1

Agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the accrediting agencies.  

 
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