Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) Accreditation
Accreditation is a process used in higher education to evaluate colleges, universities and educational programs for quality and to assess their efforts toward continuous quality improvement.
In the United States, there are six institutional accrediting associations in higher education, each responsible for a specific geographic area. Institutions apply for accredited status, and once accredited, they agree to abide by the standards of their accrediting organization and to regulate themselves by taking responsibility for their own improvement. The federal government requires that an institution be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting organization for its students to be eligible to receive financial aid such as Pell grants and faculty to apply for funding from federal agencies.
Commonwealth University, including Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield locations, is an accredited institution and a member of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). The Commission’s most recent action on the institution’s accreditation status on June 27, 2019, was to reaffirm accreditation. MSCHE is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). All MSCHE accreditation actions and CU alternative delivery methods, credential levels, and locations are found on the Statement of Accreditation Status linked below:
Commonwealth University’s Statement of Accreditation Status
The MSCHE accreditation review cycle and monitoring procedures outline activities and timing for self-study evaluation, on-site evaluation, mid-point peer review, and monitoring activities. Please see Commonwealth University’s Middle States Reaccreditation 2025 site for more information on the current self-study process. During the self-study process, MSCHE receives third-party comments for institutions approaching a scheduled accreditation review. Please visit the MSCHE complaints web page which provides more information about the third-party comment policy, procedures, instructions, and submission forms.
Public disclosures are required by MSCHE and can be found on this web page as well as the Higher Education Act (HEA) Student Consumer Information web page.
MSCHE recognizes the value of information provided by individuals in determining whether an institution’s performance is consistent with MSCHE standards for accreditation. MSCHE’s interest also is in assuring that member institutions maintain and follow appropriate grievance procedures. Complaints regarding an institution’s compliance with MSCHE Requirements of Affiliation, standards, or policies or regarding an institution’s compliance with its own policies or procedures can be submitted according to the policies on the MSCHE complaint web page.
Matters outside of MSCHE’s purview include disputes between individuals and affiliated institutions about admission, grades, granting or transferability of credits, application of academic policies, fees or other financial matters, disciplinary matters, contractual rights and obligations, personnel decisions, or similar matters.
MSCHE expects individuals to attempt to resolve the issue through the institution’s own published grievance procedures before submitting a complaint to MSCHE. Please view MSCHE’s full complaint procedures and policies. Contact complaints@msche.org for additional information.
