Accreditation - St Mary's College

SMC is Pursuing Accreditation

St. Mary’s College, already legally approved to grant a BA in Liberal Arts by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR), submitted its initial application for accreditation to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) in August 2023. We will work through that multi-year process, which requires a period of candidacy prior to full accreditation, as expeditiously as possible. (See HLC’s website for a full description of the process)

For us, the purposes of accreditation are:

To provide our students and their families the assurance, from an external source with rigorous standards, that we deliver what we promise.
To simplify degree recognition and credit transfer to other institutions, enabling efficient movement of our students to further study as desired.
To allow our students access to non-government scholarships and private financial aid restricted for use only at accredited institutions.
To allow those paying tuition to receive possible tax credits.
- those paying tuition receive tax credits potentially exceeding $11,000 through a combination of the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit.
- 529 plans can be used to reimburse students for tuition and room & board, allowing for state income tax deductions (in Kansas and possibly other states) for these costs.
To relieve the reservations some parents and students have about attendance at a non-accredited college.

Wasn't St. Mary's accredited in the past?

St. Mary’s College has been a Kansas Board of Regents approved school since 1999, but has never been accredited.

Then why have SMC graduates been able to transfer their credits?

Students graduating from SMC have been transferring their credits to private and public universities for decades. The transfer process is generally more involved for graduates of non-accredited schools but still very possible and, in some cases, very easy. We already have agreements (called articulation agreements) for credit transfers with some schools listed below. For other institutions, students need to petition for the credit transfer, presenting syllabi and relevant coursework for review. Some schools do not consider non-accredited coursework, but many do. In any case, we work closely with our students to help them through any necessary credit transfer process.

What schools do you have articulation agreements with?

We have letters from Kansas State University, Washburn University, Benedictine College, Christendom College, and Thomas More College agreeing to accept our credits as they would from any accredited school.

What about acceptance of the new four-year degree?

We have begun securing agreements with graduate schools. Ave Maria School of Law in Florida, and Benedictine’s School of Business have both expressed interest in having our students apply to their programs. Our graduates will be eligible for Benedictine’s “Four-Plus-One” program that allows earning an MBA in one year after earning the BA at St. Mary’s.