Monitoring

Beyond regular institutional reviews, additional monitoring of an accredited institution may be required if HLC has concerns regarding the institution’s ongoing compliance with the Criteria for Accreditation or other HLC requirements.

Routine monitoring may take the form of an interim report or a focused visit.

The HLC president may also assign special monitoring to an institution, including an institutional designation, special monitoring report or advisory visit, as described in policy.

Note: See HLC’s Dues and Fees Schedule for costs associated with monitoring.

Personally Identifiable Information: Institutions should follow HLC’s Personally Identifiable Information Guidelines when submitting any reports or supporting documentation to HLC.

Routine Monitoring

Interim Report

HLC may require an interim report to receive specific, important information from the institution, track how the institution is progressing in addressing certain changes or challenges, or confirm that the institution’s stated plans have come to fruition. An interim report may be assigned as stand-alone monitoring, to be reviewed through staff analysis, or it may be embedded in a scheduled evaluation.

Interim Report Procedure

Focused Visit

A focused visit generally occurs between comprehensive evaluations and examines an institution’s ongoing compliance with specific HLC requirements. A focused visit is an evaluation of limited scope that reviews specific developments or follows up on concerns identified in a previous evaluation.

Focused Visit Procedure

Special Monitoring

Institutional Designations

Institutional designations are used to inform the public when an institution is experiencing a significant financial issue or is under governmental investigation. Institutional designations allow HLC to respond quickly to developing situations at member institutions and to communicate to students and the public in a timely manner about situations that may affect an institution’s operations.

Institutional Designations Procedure

Special Monitoring Reports and Advisory Visits

HLC’s president may call for a special monitoring report or an advisory visit to investigate specific issues that raise concerns regarding the institution’s ongoing compliance with HLC requirements. See HLC’s Special Monitoring policy (INST.F.20.010) for a list of situations that might result in a special monitoring report or advisory visit.

Special monitoring reports and advisory visits do not follow HLC’s regular review processes. A special monitoring report is generally reviewed by HLC peer reviewers. An advisory visit is conducted by a team of peer reviewers, who may be accompanied by the institution’s HLC staff liaison or other staff member.

In both cases, peer reviewers make factual determinations related to the institution’s ongoing compliance with HLC requirements in light of the underlying circumstances that resulted in the special monitoring.

The HLC president will consider the reviewers’ determinations and take appropriate action. This could include accepting a report or analysis, assigning further routine monitoring, or recommending a sanction or other action within HLC policy and procedures to an appropriate HLC decision-making body. The institution will have an opportunity to submit a response to the HLC president’s action or recommendation.

Questions?

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