Number: INST.B.20.010

Institutions participating in the Eligibility Process will establish eligibility for an HLC on-site evaluation for candidate status by completing HLC’s Eligibility Process and by receiving a determination at the conclusion of that process that the institution is ready to schedule and prepare for a visit. An institution seeking an HLC on-site evaluation for candidate status shall provide sufficient evidence in writing that it meets the Eligibility Requirements. The determination that an institution meets the Eligibility Requirements will take place during the comprehensive evaluation for Candidacy.

An institution participating in the Eligibility Process may claim no official status with HLC prior to being granted candidate status.

The Eligibility Process provides for HLC staff consultation and for review by Eligibility Reviewers to determine the institution’s readiness for a comprehensive evaluation for Candidacy. Eligibility Reviewers review the written evidence put forward by an institution that it meets the Eligibility Requirements and determine whether the institution has provided sufficient evidence to proceed with a comprehensive evaluation for Candidacy.

An organization that does not receive a recommendation to proceed with a comprehensive evaluation for Candidacy following the Eligibility Process can petition the Board of Trustees for a review if it can provide evidence that the decision of the Eligibility Reviewers was arbitrary or capricious or was not supported by substantial evidence in the record on which the Reviewers made their decision or that HLC staff or Eligibility Reviewers departed from established procedures during the review.

Fees will be charged and published in a schedule of fees for the Eligibility Process.

Eligibility Reviewers

The Board of Trustees will choose peer reviewers to serve as Eligibility Reviewers specifically trained to review the Eligibility Requirements. These reviewers will fill renewable four-year terms.

Policy History

Last Revised: June 2021
First Adopted: November 1998
Revision History: February 2003, effective May 2003; revised February 2007; renumbered November 2010; revised June 2019, November 2020, June 2021
Notes: Policies combined November 2012 – 1.8, 1.8(a), 1.8(b), 1.8(c). In February 2021, references to the Higher Learning Commission as “the Commission” were replaced with the term “HLC.”