Entry Level Continuing Accreditation

Accreditation-Continued is granted 1) when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the Standards, 2) in the case of a program holding Accreditation-Probation when the program has demonstrated that it is once again in compliance with the Standards, or 3) when a program holding Accreditation-Provisional demonstrates compliance with the Standards after completion of the provisional review process. Accreditation-continued status remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards.

The ARC-PA revised the accreditation process in 2012. The continued accreditation process is ongoing in nature, with required reporting of data and analysis submitted to the ARC-PA annually and throughout the year. Validation visits are customized for each program, based on the program SSR, periodic reports and accreditation history. All programs have validation visits every ten years.

Expansion to Distant Campus

A program holding the status of Accreditation – Continued must maintain five consecutive years of Accreditation – Continued status before the ARC-PA will consider an application for expansion to a distant campus.

The process for expansion to a distant campus is presented here in flow sheet format.

If you are considering applying for a distant campus expansion, contact Accreditation Services (accreditationservices@arc-pa.org ) to address your questions and initiate the process.