North Idaho College keeps accreditation, no longer on probation

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — North Idaho College will keep its accreditation after the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities announced the college is no longer on probation.

The college just wrapped up its meeting where faculty are now celebrating the news. College leadership says this is the culmination of four years of work from the entire staff.

“We call it going into good standing, from off of probation and into good standing. That means all of our issues with accreditation and the potential loss of accreditation are completely over,” said Lloyd Duman, interim provost at North Idaho College.

The school was put on probation in 2022 because of issues with the board of trustees that even resulted in votes of no confidence from the faculty.

Since then, there were public elections for three spots on the board of trustees. The college credits those trustees with putting the school on the right track to get back in compliance with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

“I think a bit of an albatross off our back is that this has been hanging over us for four years. And now it’s gone and the future is bright for us and for the community because it’s a community event,” said Duman.

Maintaining accreditation will allow students to continue to apply for financial aid and their credits will transfer to other schools. The college’s leadership says losing that accreditation could have meant huge drops in enrollment and losing money.

“That would allow our students to retain the ability to seek financial aid as well as to transfer to other accredited institutions so it’s very important for the college to retain its accreditation,” said Steve Kurtz, accreditation liaison officer at North Idaho College.

Staff at the college say they’re looking forward to North Idaho College continuing to be a valuable resource for the community. They’re happy to be moving on from all the uncertainty that surrounded the school over the last few years.