Abbreviation MSCHE Legal status Association | Formation 1887 Board President Elizabeth H. Sibolski Founded 1887 | |
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Purpose Educational Accreditation Region served Delaware, District of Columbia - (Washington, D.C.), Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands | ||
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in selected regions of the United States and foreign institutions of American origin. It is one of the seven regional accreditation organizations dating back 125 years and is recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
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Its headquarters are in Center City, Philadelphia.
Region and scope
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education to accredit degree-granting institutions in the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland; the District of Columbia, (Washington, D.C.), plus the American territories/commonwealths of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (in the Caribbean Sea), that wish to participate in Federal "Title IV" student loan programs. The commission also accredits non-American institutions such as Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada.
History
MSCHE grew out of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), an organization established in 1887 to improve education using evaluation and accreditation. MSCHE itself was established in 1919 and was one of three Commissions of MSA until 2013 when MSCHE incorporated as a separate entity in Pennsylvania as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education doing business as the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.