It won’t get a conventional report card with a grade point average, but NIU will be graded in February.

Every 10 years, NIU must be evaluated by the Higher Learning Commission in order to retain accreditation. The appraisal is comprised of two parts: an expansive self-study, which already has been completed, and an on-site evaluation by the commission. The commision’s visit is scheduled for Feb. 23 to 25.

NIU President John Peters said there is little doubt NIU will pass inspection, but it is a process the university takes seriously.

“I am very, very confident that we are going to be re-accredited, but it is a pretty big deal for the university,” he said. “We have been preparing for this for two years. We are not in any danger of losing our accreditation, but we take this very seriously, as does every university. Harvard takes it seriously. The University of Wisconsin takes it seriously. It’s a chance for us also to evaluate how we have been doing.”

Jan Rintala, chair of the self-study steering committee and a professor of kinesiology and physical education, said re-accreditation is a sign of a university’s educational quality.

“It tells both your students and the general public that there is good quality in the program as well as all of the university because the accreditation program looks at not just your academic programs, but at libraries, student life support services and basically anything that has to do with the university,” she said. “It basically tells your public that the university has the things it needs to give a good educational experience to its students.”

Rintala said the major consequence of not receiving reaccreditation, which she stressed is a very slim possibility, would be that NIU students no longer would be eligible for federal financial aid.

Virginia Cassidy, associate vice president of academic planning and development, said she is looking forward to the perspective of outsiders.

“One of the benefits of having a site team come and having done a self-study is that they will be able to make some recommendations to us about things that we perhaps haven’t thought of, because we are too close to things,” Cassidy said. “They may see some things that we don’t see, so we should be able to get some very good recommendations from them about how to make and keep NIU the quality institution that it is for the future.”

Get in contact

Members of the community are invited to submit their comments regarding NIU directly to the Higher Learning Commission at this address:

• Commission on Institutions of Higher Education

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

30 N. LaSalle St., Suite 2400

Chicago, IL 60602