The First Step: State Authorization
Faculties and universities in the USA are overseen by three entities often called the regulatory triad: authorization companies run by state governments; membership-based non-public, nonprofit organizations referred to as accreditors; and the U.S. Division of Schooling.
State authorization is the primary level of entry for brand new establishments in search of to develop into universities. Even when a college has no real interest in accreditation or federal funding from the Division of Schooling, it nonetheless will need to have approval from the state authorities with a purpose to recruit or enroll college students. Normally, an entity can not even name itself a college except it has state authorization. The College of Austin glided by the moniker “UATX” earlier than Texas’s state authorizer, the Texas Increased Schooling Coordinating Board (THECB), greenlighted the college in October 2023.
States usually have one or two companies overseeing “conventional” establishments of upper schooling—that’s, not-for-profit faculties that grant levels (versus certificates). Analysis from the American Enterprise Institute appears to be like on the intensive documentation that state authorizers require from aspiring schools. Most states require faculties to submit the curriculum vitae of school, blueprints and ground plans of campus buildings, and lists of classroom gear. Generally there are specific necessities connected to this documentation—Mississippi, for example, requires every classroom to have a minimal of 600 sq. ft of ground area—however, most of the time, whether or not the college’s plans cross muster is left to the discretion of the person authorizer. Many authorizers, together with THECB, require faculties to have a “cheap” or “enough” ratio of school to college students—however these phrases are normally left undefined.
In observe, which means state authorizers normally consider aspiring faculties on how comparable they’re to current schools. However new entrants to a market typically need to innovate, and they’re going to typically depart from the usual mannequin to scale back prices or improve effectivity. A brand new college may view necessities that school maintain terminal levels as outdated or counterproductive—however such a coverage may also entice elevated scrutiny from the state authorizer.
Certainly, state authorizers’ are likely to approve establishments that not solely look just like current schools—however typically are current schools. That is true in Texas in addition to nationally. In accordance with federal knowledge, lots of the “new” schools which have shaped in Texas within the final quarter century are new campuses of current programs just like the College of Texas or Texas A&M College, together with a handful of specialised establishments corresponding to divinity faculties.
However there may be arguably no current precedent for a big, unbiased, degree-granting nonprofit establishment such because the College of Austin, no less than not in Texas. Michael Shires, chief of employees and vp of strategic initiatives at UATX, says it has been 60 to 70 years for the reason that Lone Star State accredited a brand new establishment in the identical class as UATX. (THECB, which shaped 59 years in the past, was not capable of affirm or deny that timeline.)
Many state governments, Shires instructed me, “have layered plenty of new guidelines and rules on high of the legislation” for the reason that final time they chartered a brand new nonprofit college. “One of many challenges we had was discovering paths and decoding the code with all these new layers on high of it for us to have the ability to launch a brand new establishment.” The chapter of the Texas state code governing state authorization is 80,000 phrases lengthy.
The College of Austin’s preliminary utility to THECB was 1,200 pages lengthy, plus 700 to 800 pages of supporting documentation. After the college filed its utility, the primary response from THECB “was a request to interrupt our utility into smaller items, as a result of their computer systems couldn’t open this large 1,200-page doc with all of the graphics and tables that had been in it,” says Shires. “We needed to break it into six items in order that they may really open the recordsdata.”
The timeline for state authorization might be frustratingly lengthy, as UATX found firsthand. The college formally launched in November 2021, submitted its utility for authorization in December 2022, and obtained approval in October 2023. That quantities to a 10-month official course of for authorization, on high of greater than a 12 months of preparation. Nationally, preliminary approval timelines can differ, however 10 months is not atypical.
Many states even have caps on the variety of establishments or applications they are going to authorize per 12 months. UATX, for example, was solely allowed to launch with a single diploma program.
Shires emphasizes that the state of Texas was a “associate” by way of the authorization course of. Nevertheless it was nonetheless drawn out, “and time equals cash,” he says. “That’s one of many actually massive classes about beginning new universities. It’s a really costly course of.”
Texas was no less than open to the thought of a brand new college. Many different states are detached to new schools at finest, and the state authorization system is an afterthought. In accordance with researcher Molly Corridor-Martin, some states have only one full-time employees member dedicated to authorizing new schools and universities. Within the median state, funding for the state authorizer quantities to only 0.04 p.c of complete state assist for larger schooling. Many establishments quietly complain that they obtain little assist from state governments in navigating the authorization course of and that authorizers are unresponsive to their questions.
In some circumstances, as soon as a brand new school has authorization from the state authorities, the establishment can cease there. However more often than not, schools should take an extra step: accreditation. Recognition from an accreditor is required for federal funding, and graduate faculties usually solely settle for college students who’ve graduated from an accredited school. To be aggressive, new faculties want each federal funding and the reassurance that their graduates can be eligible for grad college. Furthermore, most state authorizers require faculties to be accredited or on a path to accreditation as a situation of preliminary authorization. So, in sensible phrases, state authorization is just the primary hurdle aspiring universities have to clear.
