Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. The Commission’s mission is the enhancement of educational quality throughout the region and it strives to improve the effectiveness of institutions by ensuring that institutions meet standards established by the higher education community that address the needs of society and students. It serves as the common denominator of shared values and practices among the diverse institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Latin America and other international sites approved by the Commission on Colleges that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degrees. The Commission also accepts applications from other international institutions of higher education.

The accrediting standards used by the Commission on Colleges are contained in the handbook, The Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement. This document provides consistent guidelines for peer review, representing the collective judgment of the membership on standards appropriate for the assurance of quality in higher education.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is a private, nonprofit, voluntary organization founded in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Association is comprised of the Commission on Colleges, which accredits higher education degree-granting institutions, and the Council on Accreditation and School Improvement, which accredits elementary, middle, and secondary schools. The Commission and Council carry out their missions with considerable autonomy; they develop their own standards and procedures and govern themselves by a delegate assembly. Both operate under the Association’s Board of Trustees.

St. Andrews has been engaged in a dispute with the Southern Association for the past two years, centering on the College’s business plan. The College and SACS have agreed, and the court has approved, that the College’s SACS accreditation will remain in place and uninterrupted through the end of the 2010 academic year. The College’s affiliation with the Southern Association will end on May 31, 2010.