D.C.‘s Southeastern University could lose accreditation

WASHINGTON — Financial instability, shrinking enrollment and a lack of academic rigor could cost Southeastern University its accreditation in September.

The university posted the revocation warning from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education on its Web site this week. Officials say they plan to appeal the decision.

The school’s six-year graduation rate for first-time students seeking bachelor’s degrees is 14 percent. The faculty has shrunk to just 10 members for more than 30 academic programs at a school attended by 637 undergraduate and graduate students this winter.

In a letter to colleagues obtained by the Washington Post, Southeastern President Charlene Drew Jarvis wrote the university had asked Middle States to delay a decision on accreditation until it could merge with another school.