Coosa Valley Technical College and Northwestern Technical College have been granted approval for the merger of the two colleges through the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS-COC).  The announcement was made on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at the SACS-COC Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
 
“Maintaining our SACS-COC accreditation is critical as we go forward in this process,” said Coosa Valley Technical College President Dr. Craig McDaniel.  “Every effort is being made to keep the students’ interests first and foremost.  Having students attend and graduate from an accredited institution is at the very core of our efforts.”
 
In September, the state board of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) voted to merge the administrations of 13 of the state’s 33 state technical colleges, including a merger between Coosa Valley Technical College and Northwestern Technical College.  Once the merger was announced, the two colleges put together a merger action team to help facilitate the process.  One of the first things on their agenda was to submit a substantive change application to SACS-COC for combining the two colleges and the services they provide.
 
“The substantive change approval from the Commission on Colleges is an important accomplishment in the merger process.  This places the system and the colleges another step closer to our July 1, 2009 merger completion date,” stated Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Ron Jackson.
 
SACS-COC is the recognized regional accrediting body in the eleven U.S. Southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) and in Latin America for institutions of higher education that award associate, bachelor’s, master's, or doctoral degrees.  The agency examines all aspects of college operations and makes recommendations on how the school can improve.  To gain or maintain accreditation with the Commission on Colleges, an institution must comply with the standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement and with the policies and procedures of the Commission on Colleges.
 
For more information on the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools visit their website at www.sacscoc.org.

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