Welcome to St. Andrews Presbyterian College

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) is a national association that accredits institutions offering quality general education programs in the liberal arts that meet the Academy's stringent educational, administrative, and financial criteria. AALE is unique in the accreditation community in grounding the entire institutional or program accreditation process on a rigorous set of Education Standards. A major purpose of the Academy is the accreditation of liberal arts institutions in order to enable them to participate in programs authorized under the Higher Education Act and other Federal programs. Universities, colleges, or liberal arts programs within such institutions may apply for AALE accreditation.

Accreditation by AALE signifies institutional integrity and a strong commitment to liberal education. Membership certifies that the institution meets or exceeds the Academy's independently established Education Standards. These standards require students to complete demanding core studies in the arts, sciences, and humanities taught by senior as well as junior faculty. Consequently, AALE's Education Standards provide stakeholders in higher education, including parents and prospective students, with a clear means for identifying curricula with a focused, well-articulated core of languages, history, mathematics, science, literature, philosophy, and other elements of a liberal education.

AALE is listed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education as a recognized national accrediting agency for the accreditation and preaccreditation of institutions of higher education and programs within institutions of higher education that offer liberal arts degrees at the baccalaureate level. The Academy is located in the nation's capital and is non-profit, non-partisan, and non-sectarian.

St. Andrews was awarded educational program accreditation from the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) in December 2008, and was granted institutional preaccreditation in October 2009. The College will be preparing an institutional self-study, and hosting a site visit team from the Academy during the spring 2010 semester with the purpose of extending its institutional accreditation status for another 10 years.