Appalachian State University and North Carolina Central University are applying to join the Commission for Public Higher Education, the accreditation agency that the UNC System and several other Southern states are seeking to establish.
App State and N.C. Central join UNC Charlotte as three of an initial cohort of 10 universities that CPHE will evaluate using its newly developed standards as it prepares to apply for formal recognition from the U.S. Department of Education in 2027.
The cohort also includes three schools in Florida, two in Georgia, and two in Texas, Inside Higher Ed reported. CPHE’s founding member states also include Tennessee and South Carolina, while Louisiana officials have voted to pursue membership with the organization.
UNC System officials guided the development of CPHE for more than a year before the effort was publicly announced in June. North Carolina leaders have said the agency will reduce the financial and administrative burdens placed on campuses under their current accreditors, though rhetoric from other states about the effort has been more political. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican and an outspoken critic of existing accreditors, referred to the agencies as a “cartel.”
While UNC Charlotte was the first UNC System campus to publicly announce its intent to join the new agency, App State was the first of the three to submit its letter of intent to CPHE, doing so on October 6. N.C. Central submitted its letter on October 15.
The Assembly obtained the letters from each university upon request.
App State and N.C. Central’s letters of intent, unlike UNC Charlotte’s, did not list any concerns about seeking accreditation with the yet-to-be-recognized agency.
In a statement to The Assembly, App State Provost Neva Specht said university officials “welcome a peer review process that recognizes the characteristics that distinguish institutions of public higher education.”
“We anticipate that an accreditation process that emphasizes clear outcomes and helps focus our work in alignment with public higher education standards will help sustain and reinforce confidence not only in our institution, but in our industry, as we continue working together on improving value and return on investment for our students, their families, and the taxpayers of North Carolina,” Specht said.
N.C. Central Chancellor Karrie Dixon wrote in her letter that the university was seeking membership with CPHE “because its standards and values align closely with our institutional mission and strategic priorities.” As the only historically Black university in the initial cohort, Dixon noted, N.C. Central “values CPHE’s transparent and adaptable standards, which support institutions serving students like ours.”
“The streamlined accreditation process offers cost efficiencies and reduces administrative burdens, allowing us to focus more fully on academic excellence and student support,” Dixon wrote.
There appear to be more campuses lining up for membership with the agency. At a Wednesday meeting of the UNC System Board of Governors, UNC Asheville Chancellor Kimberly van Noort asked whether CPHE could “hold a spot” for her campus to join the organization when it’s up for accreditation again in 2033.
The organization expects to work with an additional cohort of schools that will submit applications next year, according to its website.