The Higher Learning Commission requires that institutions undergoing accreditation meet five criteria of accreditation and the twenty-one core components that fall under the criteria. In order to maintain accreditation the institution must address each core component in a way that demonstrates that the organization possesses the attributes required of an institution accredited by the Commission. These criteria ensure the quality of the institutions accredited by the Commission in a manner that supports innovation and encompasses diversity.

Criterion One: Mission and Integrity

The organization operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students.

Core Component - 1A. The organization's mission documents are clear and articulate publicly the organization's commitments.

Core Component - 1B. In its mission documents, the organization recognizes the diversity of its learners, other constituencies, and the greater society it serves.

Core Component - 1C. Understanding of and support for the mission pervade the organization.

Core Component - 1D. The organization's governance and administrative structures promote effective leadership and support collaborative processes that enable the organization to fulfill its mission.

Core Component - 1E. The organization upholds and protects its integrity.

Criterion Two: Preparing for the Future

The organization's allocations of resources and its processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges.

Core Component - 2A. The organization realistically prepares for a future shaped by multiple societal and economic trends.

Core Component - 2B. The organization's resource base supports it educational programs and its plans for maintaining and strengthening their quality in the future.

Core Component - 2C. The organization's ongoing evaluation and assessment processes provide reliable evidence of institutional effectiveness that clearly informs strategies for continuous improvement.

Core Component - 2D. All levels of planning align with the organization's mission, thereby enhancing its capacity to fulfill that mission.

Criterion Three: Student Learning and Effective Teaching

The organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrated it is fulfilling its educational mission.

Core Component - 3A. The organization's goals for student learning outcomes are clearly tated for each educational program and make effective assessment possible.

Core Component - 3B. The organization values and supports effective teaching.

Core Component - 3C. The organization creates effective learning environments.

Core Component - 3D. The organization's learning resources support student learning and effective teaching.

Criterion Four: Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge

The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission.

Core Component - 4A. The organization demonstrates, through the actions of its board, administrators, students, faculty, and staff, that it values a life of learning.

Core Component - 4B. The organization demonstrates that acquisition of a breadth of knowledge and skills and the exercise of intellectual inquiry are integral to its educational programs.

Core Component - 4C. The organization assesses the usefulness of its curricula to students who will live and work in a global, diverse, and technological society.

Core Component - 4D. The organization provides support to ensure that faculty, students, and staff acquire, discover, and apply knowledge responsibly.

Criterion Five: Engagement and Service

As called for by its mission, the organization identifies is constituencies and serves them in ways both value.

Core Component - 5A. The organization learns from the constituencies it serves and analyzes its capacity to serve their needs and expectations.

Core Component - 5B. The organization has the capacity and the commitment to engage with its identified constituencies and communities.

Core Component - 5C. The organization demonstrates its responsiveness to those constituencies that depend on it for service.

Core Component - 5D. Internal and external constituencies value the services the organization provides.