CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Business College will be under continued scrutiny the next few months as the school’s accreditation is in jeopardy of being yanked permanently in April.
The Accrediting Council For Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) issued a report on Dec. 22 that included findings of 48 serious concerns related to accreditation.
For instance, ethical standards were called into question along with qualifications for faculty members at the school’s campuses in Nutter Fort and Wheeling.
ACICS also determined there could also be a lack of equipment and instructional resources to support a number of academic programs.
The accreditation was going to be pulled Dec. 30 but the school was granted extended accreditation into the spring, state Community and Technical College System Chancellor Sarah Tucker told MetroNews Thursday.
“Sometime between now and April 30, 2017 ACICS will make another ruling about whether or not they believe that West Virginia Business College should remain accredited,” Tucker said.
Meanwhile, the state Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) discovered concerns during a routine financial aid audit.
“There were $70,000 in inconsistencies with the way West Virginia Business College was spending from the Higher Education Grant program,” Tucker said.
The Higher Education Policy Commission will address the WVBC issues at its Feb. 3 meeting.
“They’re going to determine what action they want to take against WVBC for misappropriating nearly $70,000 in state funding,” according to Tucker.
Amid the concerns, the two-year reauthorization committee of the Academic Affairs Division of the Community and Technical College System is hesitant to allow WVBC to continue offering degrees.
“They want a site visit of West Virginia Business College and they want to be able to talk to students and find out what’s going on for the students,” Tucker said. “We have to have a conversation with the students, sit down with the students, find out what’s going on from their perspective and make sure they understand what’s going on with the institution that they are attending.”
There is financial concern for those who have been borrowing money to attend classes.
“Basically students were taking out too much money to pay for the programs that what their occupation would ultimately allow them to recoup which was a problem that ITT had as well. Both of the (WVBC) programs that were outlined were in the health care field,” Tucker said.
Tucker estimated WVBC has about 120 students who could be impacted.