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Accreditation History

During MCC's accreditation history, evaluation teams have visited the College seven times, and MCC has submitted three special reports since it applied for candidacy in 1974.

  • MCC had its first evaluation visit in December 1974, which resulted in candidacy status approval in April 1975.
  • In November 1976, the college hosted a biennial visit and was approved for continuing candidacy status and for moving toward accreditation.
  • After the initial accreditation visit in November 1978, MCC was granted accreditation for five years in April 1979; however, a mandated focused visit was scheduled in 1980-81 to fulfill the requirements of initial accreditation.
  • Based on the April 1981 mandatory focused visit, the visiting team thought the College had not yet resolved issues raised earlier: developing a long-range master plan and reducing the Board of Governors' involvement in administrative matters. A follow-up focused visit was schedule for the following year.
  • In March 1982, the visiting team conducted a focused visit and concluded that the College had addressed the master planning concern but had not fully addressed the concern about board involvement in administrative matters. Because of this, the next comprehensive visit was moved forward one academic year to spring 1983.
  • In March 1983, the first evaluation visit for continued accreditation occurred. The commission stipulated that the College submit a five-year status report in 1987-88.
  • In October 1992, a second evaluation visit for continued accreditation occurred. The visiting team recommended a 10-year continuing accreditation status with the next scheduled visit occurring in 2002-03; however, the College was required to provide a detailed description of its institutional program for the assessment of student academic achievement during 1995-96.
  • In May 1996, the College submitted the requested report, which was subsequently approved. Information about previous visits and reports is available in the Resource Room.
  • In October 2002, the evaluation team from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) returned and "enthusiastically and unanimously" recommended another 10 years of accreditation. The College was asked to prepare a progress report due in 2005 on assessing student achievement and integrating the assessment into curricula development, relevant planning and budgeting processes.
  • In November 2005, the College submitted the progress report on assessment of student academic achievement which was subsequently approved by the Higher Learning Commission in February 2006.
  • From 2009-2013, the College participated in the Higher Learning Commission Pathways Demonstration Project in lieu of a traditional self-study model for the purpose of gaining reaffirmation of accreditation.
  • In May 2013, the Higher Learning Commission reaffirmed MCC's accreditation through the 2022-2023 academic year. MCC was one of only 13 HLC member institutions to pilot the new Open Pathway accreditation process. No additional reports were requested.
  • In June 2017, the College submitted its first assurance argument under the new HLC Open Pathway process. The HLC gave the College “criterion met” on all criteria except for two (4b and 4c), which were met with concerns. Criterion 4b and 4c are related to learning outcomes assessment and data analysis. The College completed an interim report in 2019, which was accepted.
  • In 2018 MCC joined the HLC Assessment Academy to improve learning outcomes assessment and to fulfill the HLC requirement that the College engage in a quality improvement initiative as part of the Open Pathway accreditation process, Improvement to general education assessment, co-curricular assessment and assessment of dual credit courses were the focus of the Assessment Academy work.
  • In October of 2022, HLC completed a comprehensive site visit.
  • In January 2023, HLC reaffirmed MCC's accreditation through the 2032-33 academic year. No additional reports were requested.