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Amanda Ng
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Multnomah Takes Next Step Toward Accreditation
Amy Stephens has been heavily involved in the accreditation process.
--Karissa Clark, photo
In December, Multnomah will learn if it is able to continue in candidacy for regional accreditation, according to Dr. Wayne Strickland, vice president and academic dean of Multnomah.
After nearly a six-year process, including 10 months of candidacy, Amy Stephens, Multnomah's director of admissions, says the end is in sight.
The accreditation process includes site visit teams assessing Multnomah and providing progress reports for each visit. A site visit team last visited Multnomah in October.
Site visit teams comprise faculty members of other colleges. They evaluate Multnomah's programs and its campus, assessing the accuracy of Multnomah's self-study reports.
According to Ms. Stephens, accreditation will be significant in acquiring and retaining students.
"Accreditation increases options available for students for future education," Dr. Strickland said.
At present, 569 college students are enrolled at Multnomah for the fall semester, an increase of four students compared to last year's total.
According to a report of the fall 2003 semester, the retention rate for first-time freshmen is 57.5 percent, with transfer students having a higher retention percentage. In total, 78 percent of last year's spring semester students continued this year.
When asked, most students give reasons such as finances for their premature withdrawal from the college. "What are the real reasons?" Ms. Stephens asked.
The college is considering giving surveys to receive honest feedback from former students who left the college before completing degrees.
"I think accreditation would help," Ms. Stephens said. "Many students are worried about the transfer of credits from Multnomah to other universities if they want to further their studies. At this moment, Multnomah credits are not recognized in state colleges like Portland State University."
Despite the present lack of regional accreditation, Paul Imig, a first-time freshman student, said he is confident he will continue attending Multnomah until he graduates.
Imig considered majoring in music at Warner Pacific College, but he changed his plans because of Multnomah's friendly faculty members and vision for students.
"Multnomah is more focused on ministry rather than performance," Imig said. "Being in Multnomah will enable me to learn a lot more on how to do ministry and seek what God wants me to do for the rest of my life."
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