San Fernando Valley : College Sets Meeting on Accreditation

Since the revelation that Pierce College’s accreditation has been withheld, officials at the Woodland Hills school say they have been scrambling to calm students’ fears that the facility will close and their credits will be worthless.

A meeting has been set for Oct. 23 at noon in the Campus Center Lounge to clear up misunderstandings about what the situation means, said Richard Follett, president of the school’s Academic Senate.

“Our present accreditation is still in place,” he said. “We have not been placed on a warning or on probation; we have a deferment of an accreditation renewal, which gives the college two more years to comply with the [accreditation] commission’s recommendations.”

In September, the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges had privately warned Pierce that continuing financial, enrollment and leadership problems threaten its accreditation. School officials say they have made significant progress on the recommendations.

Colleges must be accredited every six years. If accreditation is revoked, students could lose eligibility for financial aid and four-year institutions could deny them admittance. According to a spokesman for the accreditation commission, its action stops far short of anything so drastic.