Accreditation

Lewis University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Inquiries concerning regional accreditation should be directed to:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2400
Chicago, Illinois 60602-2504.

By phone: (800) 621-7440. 

About Accreditation

Who is the Higher Learning Commission?
The Higher Learning Commission is part of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The Association is one of six regional institutional accrediting associations in the United States. Through its Commissions it accredits, and thereby grants membership to educational institutions in the nineteen-state North Central region.

The Higher Learning Commission is recognized by the Secretary of Education and the Committee on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation (CORPA, now continued under the Council on Higher Education Accreditation, or CHEA).

What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is any form of independent non-governmental peer review of educational programs for the purpose of helping to establish that the learning offered is of a uniform and sound quality.

Why is Accreditation Important?
Accreditation may be important if you seek to have a public record of your learning that will be widely accepted by employers, professional associations, and other colleges and universities.

What Kind of Accreditation Should I Look for?
In the United States the most widely recognized form of accreditation for degree-granting programs comes from the regional accreditation commissions. Lewis University is regionally accredited. When people ask if you have attended an "accredited university" in the United States, they usually mean a regionally accredited university.

What are the Names of the Regional Accreditation Commissions?
Each of the 6 geographic regions of the United States has a non-governmental agency that oversees, reviews, and accredits degree-granting institutions that are headquartered in their territories. The 6 regional accreditation commissions are:

1. MSA--Middle States Association
2. NASC--Northwest Association of Schools & Colleges
3. NCA--North Central Association of Colleges & Schools
4. NEASC--New England Association of Schools & Colleges
5. SACS--Southern Association of Colleges & Schools
6. WASC--Western Association of Schools & Colleges

These 6 commissions are seen as equal in each other's eyes and the eyes of academics for the purpose of transferring credits or degree status from one college to another.  Regionally accredited schools recognize degrees and credits earned at other institutions as equal to their own