HLC Probation FAQs

According to their website, "The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an independent corporation that was founded in 1895 as one of seven regional accreditors in the United States. HLC accredits degree-granting post-secondary educational institutions in the United States. HLC is as an institutional accreditor, accrediting the institution as a whole."

HLC is MSU-WP's accreditation agency.

Accreditation represents a process by which a college or university demonstrates that its credits and degrees meet or exceed minimum standards. For the Higher Learning Commission, these standards are called Criteria for Accreditation. Accreditation is used as a standard by the Department of Education as a requirement for the granting for federal student aid.

MSU-WP has been accredited by the HLC since 1994.

The current probationary status represents the first time the HLC has sanctioned MSU-WP. The college remains accredited for the duration of the probationary time period, and all course credits remain transferable.

The HLC uses the following 5 criteria to evaluate colleges and universities:

Criterion 1. Mission

Criterion 2. Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct

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

Criterion 4. Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement

Criterion 5. Institutional Effectiveness, Resources and Planning

Out of the five Criteria for Accreditation, one was determined to be out of compliance, and two others were at risk of being out of compliance. The full list is posted in the next response.

More information about each criterion can be found on the HLC’s webpage “The Criteria for Accreditation and Core Components.”

Of the 18 Core Components linked to the Criteria, the HLC concluded that MSU-WP is out of compliance with the following HLC requirement:

• Criterion 4, Core Component 4.B – Assessment of student learning

Of the 18 Core Components, the HLC concluded that MSU-WP needs to address additional concerns related to the following HLC requirements:

• Criterion 3, Core Component 3.A – Academic offerings appropriate to higher education
• Criterion 4, Core Component 4.A – Ensuring quality of educational offerings
• Criterion 5, Core Component 5.C – Systematic and integrated planning and improvement

MSU-WP remains fully accredited by the HLC. MSU-WP continues to offer quality academic programs and courses. Because colleges and universities establish their own transfer and admissions policies, students should always contact any institution they wish to attend for a higher degree or for transfer to understand what that college or university’s admissions and transfer policies are.

You are not!

The university is working to improve its processes and documentation to meet the HLC’s requirements. As with any institution, MSU-WP has areas upon which it can and must improve. However, no one person or groups of people are “on probation.”

While on probation, currently-offered programs and degrees remain accredited.

MSU-WP will take this opportunity to evaluate the HLC’s needs and requirements in order to create a stronger, better academic institution.

MSU-WP’s quality and dedication to student success will continue to be excellent. If anything, commitment to quality (and demonstrating this quality) will increase.

Yes. Financial aid will continue to be offered just as it has been in the past. Institutions must be accredited in order to request federal financial aid, and MSU-WP will remain eligible during this time.

At its June 2024 meeting, the Higher Learning Commission’s Board of Trustees placed Missouri State University-West Plains on probation because it determined that the college was out of compliance with 1 of the 18 Core Components for Accreditation. That component concerns policies and procedures for the assessment of student learning.

When you take a course from Missouri State University-West Plains or participate in learning opportunities outside of class, MSU-WP’s faculty and staff have designed ways to evaluate what you’ve learned from them. That may include how you perform on particular tasks in your classes (assignments, presentations, examinations, etc.) or on your responses to surveys or evaluations of activities in which you participated. MSU-WP then takes that information and uses it to help determine what is taught in classes and how it is taught or, in the case of out-of-class opportunities, how to make the opportunity a better experience and more useful for students.

Student learning assessment is crucial to ensuring we continue to provide a quality education that serves your needs and helps you achieve your personal goals. It is an integral part of our accreditation process, and it is a process we will improve.

Academic departments, faculty, and administration are working together to fully address concerns regarding the assessment of student learning. MSU-WP has taken several steps to address the deficiency, including purchasing a software platform for the sole purpose of improving the assessment of student learning, providing further training on program and course outcome assessment, and providing additional information for improving the understanding of student learning.

In a course, each faculty member includes in their syllabus which student learning outcome they will assess and where and how they will assess them. Once you have completed the activity, the faculty member collects data on the class’s performance on that assignment or classroom activity. At the end of every semester, each faculty member reports the results of their courses’ assessments to their dean and explains how they will use it to improve their courses for the following semester. The faculty member makes any needed changes indicated from their assessment of your learning and their own teaching practice, and then assesses the effect of those changes at the end of the semester before repeating the cycle again.

When we are undergoing our accreditation review, Missouri State University-West Plains writes an assurance argument using the HLC’s criteria to assess our own performance, and we include student learning assessment as part of our argument. We write that self-assessment as an assurance argument and submit it to HLC who then reviews it, visits us to verify that what we claim is true, and then provides their assessment of us. It is the assessment cycle and reporting of results we need to improve and will.

MSU-WP submitted an Assurance Filing to the HLC in September of 2023. This filing represents a standard evaluation protocol for all accredited institutions, and it occurs two times in a ten-year cycle. A team of peer reviewers from other member institutions was appointed by HLC to evaluate the filing which includes a narrative section along with evidence of the claims made. The team determined that issues existed with regard to certain Criteria for Accreditation. As a result, the peer review team recommended that the HLC Board of Trustees place MSU-WP on probation because MSU-WP could not provide the necessary evidence to document that it was meeting all of the HLC criteria. Another group of peer reviewers conducted a hearing several months later and also determined that the issues were still outstanding and confirmed the initial team’s recommendation. The sanction recommendation was not formally approved until the June 2024 Board of Trustees meeting, after which MSU-WP was notified by email and certified letter.