SCHEV accepts college remediation plans

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia has accepted remediation plans by Richard Bland College and the University of Virginia’s College at Wise intended to bring the schools into compliance with certification standards.

In June, SCHEV told the schools to address deficiencies in performance benchmarks that primarily are related to student retention levels at Wise and graduation numbers at Richard Bland. SCHEV called on their affiliated schools—U.Va. and the College of William and Mary—to help out.

On Tuesday the council signed off on those efforts, freeing interest income that is tied to the certification process. Certification does not affect accreditation, but interest income that schools earn mainly from tuition and fees is held by the state treasury until the process is complete.

The certification process, which requires schools to set performance goals, was established by the state’s Higher Education Restructuring Act of 2005.

U.Va.-Wise reported to SCHEV that based on its Sept. 1 census, its retention rate has increased by 2.4 percentage points from the previous year. The increase will mean it will pass that performance measure during the certification review in the spring.

Richard Bland, a junior college, will work with W&M to assess student progress toward graduation and also examine ways to measure institutional success when students transfer before graduation.

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .