1 january 22, 2013 subject: rudolf steiner college accreditation

RUDOLF STEINER COLLEGE 9200 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks, CA 95628

Telephone 916-961-8727 - Facsimile 916-961-8731

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January 22, 2013 Subject: Rudolf Steiner College Accreditation Status From: William Bento, Accreditation Liaison Officer The journey towards accreditation began in the fall of 2008 and the College received Eligibility status in December 2008. This was followed by two successful WASC site visits: the Capacity Preparation Review in November 2010 and the Educational Effectiveness Review in October 2011. Our candidacy status with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges was approved by the WASC Commission on March 8, 2012 and formalized by a letter from Barbara Davis (our WASC liaison) on April 26, 2012. This three and half year process is within the normal length of time it takes most higher education institutions to arrive at candidacy. Our candidacy status has allowed us to apply for setting up a Federal Loan Office and to publish our candidacy status with WASC in all our marketing and recruitment materials. Robin Gallowglas has been hired to fill the position of the Federal Loan Office. She comes to us with 5 years of running a fedral loan for a small college in Marysville. She is working closely with Laura Randles, CFO and with our consultant Kris Strom. This team is hopeful that the federal loan office will be able to offer loans for the summer semester of 2013. Our candidacy has also allowed us to apply for a substantive change with WASC. This is the right to develop new programs awarding the same level degree. In our case this is a Master of Arts degree. An application for an MA in Transpersonal Psychology: Concentration in Anthroposophic Psychology has been submitted. We are still awaiting a conference call that will give us our next steps forward. The Substantive Change Committee will review and initiate a conference call to duscuss and/or approve its commencement for July 29, 2013. The MA in Advanced Studies in Waldorf Education was withdrawn and needs a re-think by the Academic Senate. Although there are goals to create a BA completion program in the Liberal Arts and a BA in Communication, it is not possible to apply for a structural change until the College has obtained initial accreditation. We are now preparing to meet all the issues cited by the commission letter of March 8, 2012.

• Adopting and implementing a credit hour policy 1.) The College must conform with the credit hour policy of both federal and

WASC regulations prior to applying for federal financial aid. 2.) The College must ensure that each course meets the WASC credit hour

requirements and must establish procedures for the periodic review of credit hour assignments to ensure they are accurate and reliable. (CFRs 1.9, 2.2 & Policy on Credit Hour)



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• Both points have been met as of March 2012 by Academic Senate policy approval

and immediate implementation on all RSC course syllabi.

• Achieve greater financial sustainability 1.) The commission stresses that it will not grant initial accredition until an

institution can show successive years of a balanced budget or operating surplus and can demonstrate that it is financially stable and sustainable for a period of five years.

2.) The College is urged to strengthen the governing board’s audit committee and finance committee by adding independent board members who have significant financial expertise and can help the College develop and monitor key financial performance indicators.

3.) It is understood that the College intends to increase employee compensation and it will need a sound plan explaining how the salary increases will be covered within the context of balanced budgets.

4.) Because the College is tuition dependent and relies on student enrollment to sustain its institutional viability, the Commission encourages RSC to base enrollment projections on reliable, quantitative data.

5.) The College also will need to continue to carefully monitor expenses and to explore ways of diversifying its funding base through private contributions and fundraising.

6.) As the site visit team noted, ‘Development efforts are critical for future growth.’ (CFRs 3.1, 3.2. 3.5, 4.1 & 4.2)

Response to 1: This has been a difficult statement to interpret. However, a balanced budget needs to be obtained with a projection and plan that can assure five years of financial stability upon our March 2014 CPR visit and our EER visit in the fall of 2015. Recent communication with Barbara Davis stated that we needed to have a plan to overcome any deficit or outstanding loan we may have in order to remain accreditation eligible. She assured the RSC ALO that a cash flow problem would not jeopardize accreditation. Extended time may be granted by the Commission to achieve the successive years of a balanced budget. The other 5 items are of equal importance, particularly the need for development efforts. Without acting upon the development stated as goals within our strategic plan RSC will not be able to meet the Capacity Preparation Review expectations. Response to 2: The BOT has a finance committee chaired by Coleman Lyles, Director of Camphill of Southern California. It has been very actively engaged in working with Laura Randles, CFO on the Integrated Business Plan submitted to the BOT by the Executive Committee on October 26, 2012. Claus Sproul from Administrative Services has recently been contracted to provide guidance in the implementation of the Integrated Business Plan and to look at the issues of



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institutional advancement. The latter includes development, fundraising, marketing and enrollment. Response to 3:Betty Staley, Interim President, is working with the CFO and the Finance Committee of the BOT to raise employee compensation considerably. In the last two months there have been 10 staff receiving salary raises and 3 new hires have been given market price contracts – Recruitment personell for the MA hybrid program, Federal Aid Officer, and Dean of Academic Development. Response to 4: Efforts have been made by Marketing to increase market research. Tony Holly as our instituitional researcher has conducted a number of surveys to obtain more reliable quantitative data needed for the Executive Committee to participate with the Interim President to make decisions on the best way to increase revenue for the College. This has resulted in the following projects: setting up CEU for teachers, making audio/video lectures and courses available online, and in providing inservices to Waldorf Schools throughout the western region. Response to 5: See response 2 & 4. Response to 6: This statement is being taken very seriously as we are auditing every department and making changes to increase our efficiency and align our activities with our strategic plan’s three primary goals.

• Developing the governing board 1.) The Board’s By-Laws need to conform to WASC expectations. 2.) The Board needs a majority of independent members who are not employees of

the College and Board committees need to be chaired by independent members. 3.) The Board needs to establish mechanisms for assessing how well it meets its

responsibilities, and then use the results of that assessment to enhance board effectiveness. (CFRs 1.3, 3.8 & 3.9)

* With regard to items 1 & 2 compliance has been met. Item 3 needs to be developed and documented.

• Improving assessment, program review and institutional research 1.) The College’s recent infrastructure for assessment, program review and

institutional research is untested. Evidence of its implementation is needed. 2.) The College needs to have a full program review of its MA program in education

by the Educational Effectiveness Review. 3.) The College needs to develop and implement appropriate assessment strategies

and provide direct evidence of students’ achievement of program and institutional outcomes in order to be in substantial compliance with WASC standards and policies.

4.) The College needs to build a robust institutional research capability that enables Rudolf Steiner College to gather, analyze and interpret data for use in improving educational effectiveness.



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(CFRs 2.3, 2.6, 2.7, 4.4 & 4.5)

* The College will not have a full program review until fall 2015 EER site visit. The Institutional Research Committee is beginning to coordinate its task and document its work. Tony Holly is the chair of the committee and is now working closely with Daniel Weston in setting up the Jenzabar integrated data system. The Accreditation Core Team is comprised of William Bento, Laura Randles, Patrick Wakeford-Evans, Ronald Koetzsch, Amelia MacDonald, Daniel Weston, Betty Staley and Lauren Hickman. It meets monthly to track delegated tasks among itself in preparation for the CPR submission, which will be due by December 2013 for a WASC site visit of 2014. A fall 2015 EER site visit will determine our initial accreditation status. The combined view of the Accreditation Core Team and the Executive Committee has arrived at two critical objectives necessary to assure that the College meets its accreditation agreements as stated in the response letter to the Commission.

1.) Setting up a federal financial aid office to provide students with greater access to the programs at RSC, to create an immediate cash flow, and to recruit and increase student enrollment.

2.) To set up Jenzabar to meet federal regulations, increase efficiency in all departments and to provide the College with the means to conduct esssential institutional research needed to make executive decisions on its operations and services.

1 january 22, 2013 subject: rudolf steiner college accreditation

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