The Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission Could Improve Its Evaluation of Competency-Based Education Programs to Help the Department Ensure Programs Are Properly Classified for Title IV Purposes

Our audit found that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission’s (Commission) control activities did not provide reasonable assurance that schools properly classified the methods of delivery for competency-based education programs. As a result, the Commission’s evaluations of the schools’ classifications of the methods of delivery will not help the Department ensure that proposed competency-based education programs are properly classified for Title IV purposes. We specifically noted that the Commission did not evaluate whether proposed competency-based education programs were designed to ensure faculty-initiated, regular, and substantive interaction between faculty and students. Additionally, the Commission did not always ensure that the credit hours assigned to the programs from which schools derived competency-based education programs met the Federal definition of a credit hour. Finally, the Commission did not always follow its own policy relevant to the review of credit hours.