TOMS RIVER — Though Kean University has been placed on academic probation and could lose its standing as an accredited four-year school in just one year, Ocean County College President Jon H. Larson was optimistic Thursday.
“I have every confidence that Kean University will address its accreditation issues together with the Middle States association in an appropriate manner,” Larson said in a prepared statement.
The Ocean County Board of Freeholders and OCC board of trustees have invested millions of dollars in their relationship with the Union-based university, which has been touted as giving Ocean County residents easy access to a four-year public university. As a result, about 1,000 OCC students matriculate to Kean@Ocean each year.
In June 2011, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the accrediting authority for colleges and universities in New Jersey, first warned Kean University that its accreditation was in potential jeopardy, citing insufficient evidence the university was in compliance with certain standards for assessing its academic performance and the performance of its students.
Kean could continue to operate without accreditation. However, without the commission’s certification, future college degrees issued by Kean no longer would have the same value as degrees from accredited schools.
The Middle States warning was upgraded last month. Kean University was informed it was on probation and in real danger of losing its accreditation come June 2013. The ultimatum came following a site visit by representatives of the commission and after the panel concluded that not only had the university not addressed its concerns from one year ago, but that conditions had continued to deteriorate further during the past year.
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