Accreditation & Professional Licensure
Accreditation
Carroll College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council on Higher Education (CHEA) to accredit postsecondary institutions. NWCCU accredits institutions of higher education by applying evidence-informed standards and processes to support continuous improvements and promote student achievement and success.
Institutions that NWCCU accredits are evaluated against its Standards for Accreditation, a set of standards that institutions must meet to receive and/or maintain accredited status. The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.
Institutional accreditation validates the quality of an institution as a whole and evaluates multiple aspects of an institution, including its academic offerings, governance and administration, mission, finances, and resources. NWCCU’s accreditation includes all degree levels as well as onsite and online course delivery. Institutions of higher education in the United States may also seek accreditation through specialized or programmatic accreditation agencies, which accredit programs, departments or schools within a college or university.
Additional Accreditation
- The Business Department at Carroll College has received specialized accreditation for its business program(s) through the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE) located at 11960 Quivira Road in Overland Park, Kansas, USA. For a list of accredited programs please view our IACBE member status page.
- The Civil Engineering and Engineering Science programs are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.
- The Nursing program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and is approved by the Montana State Board of Nursing.
- The Teacher Education program is approved for licensure purposes by the State of Montana Board of Public Education and participates in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement of reciprocity with forty-five other states.
- The Masters of Social Work program has been granted a Second Year of Candidacy Status by the Council on Social Work (CSWE) and is moving toward full accreditation. Find more information here.
- The Physician Assistant (PA) program is currently in development and seeking accreditation through the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). Carroll College has applied for Accreditation - Provisional from the ARC-PA.
NC-SARA
Montana is a member of NC-SARA, an agreement among member states, districts and territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education. Carroll College is obligated to disclose whether our face-to-face and online programs that lead to professional licensure or certification meet individual state standards of our student’s home states. You can view NC-SARA’s professional licensure directory which contains disclosures for individual states and programs. Information regarding filing complaints related to State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement standards can be found here and may be directed to the Montana University System Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, 560 N. Park Avenue, PO Box 203201, Helena, Montana 59620-3201, 406-449-9124. For more information, please see the Commissioner of Higher Education's website regarding the complaint process for institutions outside the Montana University System.
Professional Licensure
Carroll College is authorized to grant educational degrees and some of these degrees are designed or advertised to meet educational requirements to obtain a specific federal, state, or professional licensure or certification that is required for employment in an occupation. Licensure requirements may differ depending on what state or territory an individual is seeking employment. In order to inform prospective and current students on which programs meet state licensure requirements, Carroll College is required to maintain and update this Professional Licensure Disclosure.