08-15-2009, 10:46 AM
You really have to wonder about a government organization that gives itself a name with an acronym for an ethnic slur. Wasn’t National Institute for the Greater Good in Education and Research available? Or don’t they have any hebes, kikes, yids or Sons of Abraham in Wisconsin to complain about it?
TRACS-accredited Northland International University applied to the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) through the state's Wisconsin Tuition Grant Program, which provides grants to Wisconsin residents attending independent nonprofit colleges in the state at least half time. When they were denied they appealed to the board's executive director, Connie Hutchison, who told them that Northland International did not qualify because it was nationally, not regionally, accredited.
It’s a safe bet that if Northland belonged to the Transnational Association of Atheist Dimbulbs they wouldn’t have had any trouble getting the HEABs to recognize their accreditation. Christian groups always get a double-take from the valueless statist anti-religion bigots of the “RA or No Way” crowd.
TRACS-accredited Northland International University applied to the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) through the state's Wisconsin Tuition Grant Program, which provides grants to Wisconsin residents attending independent nonprofit colleges in the state at least half time. When they were denied they appealed to the board's executive director, Connie Hutchison, who told them that Northland International did not qualify because it was nationally, not regionally, accredited.
Quote:Here's what perplexed Northland officials, Priest says: The state law on which the tuition grant program is based defines an "accredited" institution eligible for the grants as one "accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or by the Board of Nursing...."Accreditation Discrimination
"Which we are," says Priest, since the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools has been recognized by the Education Department since 1991.
As university officials dug further into the situation, though, they found that the Higher Educational Aids Board appears, at some point in its history, to have adopted internal rules that interpreted the state law differently. Its Policies and Procedures Manual puts a twist on the state law, saying that to be eligible for Wisconsin student aid, a college "must be accredited through a federally accepted accrediting agency (HEAB recognizes the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools)" (emphasis added).
. . .
If Wisconsin officials ask around, they're likely to find that their policy is out of step with the prevailing winds nationally. Not only have the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and most leading higher education associations endorsed the idea that colleges should not base their determinations on transfer of credit solely on accreditation status, but the accreditation council has told state leaders for several years (as in a letter sent this spring) that they should provide equitable treatment to any accreditor recognized by either the Education Department or by CHEA itself.
It’s a safe bet that if Northland belonged to the Transnational Association of Atheist Dimbulbs they wouldn’t have had any trouble getting the HEABs to recognize their accreditation. Christian groups always get a double-take from the valueless statist anti-religion bigots of the “RA or No Way” crowd.