Evaluative Activities Applicable to All Institutions

Assurance Review

Assurance Reviews have the following components:

• Assurance Filing prepared by the institution.
• Review conducted by HLC peer reviewers appointed by HLC staff in accordance with team selection procedures. Such review shall include analysis of the Assurance Filing as well as of information from any on-site visit conducted to institutions on the Standard Pathway or to institutions on the Open Pathway in Year 4 where specifically required and in Year 10.
• Written report prepared by peer reviewers that outlines the team’s findings related to whether the institution meets the Criteria for Accreditation.
• All Assurance Reviews shall include attention to the institution’s responsibility for assuring the quality of its academic offerings, regardless of location, modality and involvement of third parties.

Assurance Filing

The Assurance Filing shall be housed on HLC’s web-based platform, known as the Assurance System, and composed of the following parts:

1. Information submitted by the institution to document evidence of meeting, and of any institutional improvement related to, the Criteria for Accreditation, which shall consist of an Assurance Argument hyperlinking specific evidence contained in an Evidence File, and any addenda required by the evaluation team or HLC staff to the above information.
2. Information to be supplied by HLC related to the institution’s accreditation relationship since its most recent comprehensive evaluation, including but not limited to: the institution’s recent Institutional Updates, records related to prior HLC evaluations, official actions and official correspondence, any third-party comments received in anticipation of the evaluation, and the results of HLC-sponsored student surveys excluding Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
3. Other information HLC deems appropriate, including but not limited to, complaints requiring further review, and any information received by HLC from any other recognized accreditor or U.S. government or state higher education agency.

For comprehensive evaluations for reaffirmation of accreditation for institutions on the Standard Pathway or Open Pathway, the Assurance Filing shall also address the Federal Compliance Requirements. An Assurance Filing shall also address the Federal Compliance Requirements as otherwise required by policy.

For comprehensive evaluations for candidacy, initial accreditation, or that include reaffirmation of accreditation for institutions on the Standard Pathway or Open Pathway, the Assurance Filing shall also address and, if applicable, the institution shall complete, the requirements of a multi-campus visit.

Comprehensive Evaluation

A comprehensive evaluation consists of the Assurance Review with an on-site visit to the institution’s main campus and other institutional locations as determined by HLC based on HLC policies and procedures. For institutions that offer only distance or correspondence education, the team shall conduct its on-site visit to the institution’s administrative offices but may include other institutional locations, if any, in the on-site visit.

HLC will establish general parameters for the direction of its visits but may lengthen or shorten any particular visit with advance notice to an institution or require that team members conduct additional on-site visits to the institution’s facilities to examine specific issues.

In a comprehensive evaluation, the team’s report will include any findings from, if applicable, any on-site visit, the multi-campus visit, and review of compliance with Federal Compliance Requirements.

Prior to a comprehensive evaluation, HLC will provide the peer review team with portions of the institution’s administrative record in accordance with HLC procedures.

In addition, HLC will forward to the team and the institution, any public comments received in anticipation of the institution’s evaluation.

Multi-campus Visits. When an institution that has one or more branch campuses undergoes certain comprehensive evaluations, HLC will send one or more HLC peer reviewers to visit the institution’s branch campuses. The multi-campus visit will take place during a comprehensive evaluation for candidacy, a comprehensive evaluation for initial accreditation, and a comprehensive evaluation that includes reaffirmation of accreditation. The peer reviewer who conducts the multi-campus visit may, but is not required to, be a member of the comprehensive evaluation team. Such multi-campus visits may precede or follow HLC’s comprehensive evaluation visit to the institution’s main campus. HLC will determine the campuses to be included in the multi-campus visit, but the focus of the visit will be on branch campuses not recently visited by HLC. The peer reviewer visiting the branch campus will provide a summary of findings arising from the visit. This summary shall inform the comprehensive evaluation team regarding the quality of the institution’s branch campuses.

Other Information Regarding Year 4 Open Pathway Assurance Reviews

When HLC is conducting an Assurance Review for an institution in Year 4 of the Open Pathway, an on-site visit will not typically be required. However, a team may call for an on-site visit to gather additional evidence not available electronically or to conduct further review of specific issues arising from the Assurance Review. In addition, if the team is considering recommending a sanction, the issuance of a Show-Cause Order or withdrawal of accreditation, it must call for an on-site visit to validate its findings prior to any such recommendation being made.

Institutional Responses to Recommendations

An institution shall have the opportunity to provide a written response to the team report for a comprehensive evaluation or Assurance Review following HLC policies for the provision of institutional responses. In all cases, an institution shall have at least 14 days to prepare and submit an institutional response to the team report prior to review and action through HLC’s decision-making processes.

Policy History

Last Revised: February 2024, effective September 2024
First Adopted:
Revision History: February 2014, June 2014, November 2018, February 2022, November 2022, February 2024 (effective September 2024)
Notes: Former policy number 1.3(d). In February 2021, references to the Higher Learning Commission as “the Commission” were replaced with the term “HLC.” Policy renumbered in June 2023 (former policy number INST.C.20.010).