Substantive Changes
Updates and announcements
- Substantive Change FAQs: We’re rebuilding the FAQ webpage with more timely questions and answers. Watch for new content over the coming weeks. Tip: A revised substantive change policy is expected in summer 2024; we’ll address related FAQs as they roll in
- Substantive Change Workshop: SACSCOC is offering its one-day, in-person, substantive change workshop:
- Friday, June 7, 2024, in Harrisonburg, Va.,
- Monday, September 16, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn., and
- Friday, November 8, 2024, in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
- For additional information – — including learning objectives, intended audience, and registration links as they are available — visit the Substantive Change Workshop webpage.
- New webinar available on Demand: Prison Education Program (PEP): Follow-up + Update
- Substantive changes are now submitted through the institutional portal by (1) answering screening questions about your change and then (2) uploading your submission. For guidance, refer to the users guide accessible in the portal. Please don’t send submissions (or copies) by mail.
- Off-campus instructional site (OCIS) name or address changes can now be made directly in the institutional portal; you do not need to prepare and upload a substantive change notification. Go to the OCIS tab, click the pencil icon, and follow the on-screen instructions. Note: All other OCIS notifications and approvals are still submitted as described in substantive change policy.
- If your institution has an off-campus instructional site (OCIS) serving incarcerated students, you’re asked to add this to OCIS record via the institutional portal. Click the OCIS’s pencil icon and check the “Site has incarcerated students” option. This data will be useful when planning and staffing OCIS committee visits (at reaffirmation, fifth-year interim reviews, etc.). Note: This designation is separate from the Prison Education Program (PEP) approval process and PEP-approved OCISs; checking “Site has incarcerated students” does not denote the institution’s or the site’s approval, if necessary, under the PEP requirements as defined in policy.
- The federal Prison Education Program (PEP) creates substantive change obligations for participating SACSCOC institutions. All current requirements are reflected in the Substantive Change Policy and Procedures as of March 2023.
- In addition to the substantive change policy, publicly available support materials from multiple sources have been assembled for your reference.
- The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has created a Prison Education Program Question and Answers webpage.
- Three on-demand PEP webinars are available
- Reminders:
- Substantive changes cannot be submitted by email to the President or to staff members.
Upcoming dates and deadlines
Note: All Substantive Change submissions must be made using the institutional portal.
- July 1, 2024: Deadline to submit substantive changes to be implemented January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2025, requiring notification or requiring approval by the Executive Council of the SACSCOC Board of Trustees. Refer to the Substantive Change Policy and Procedures for guidance for a specific substantive change type.
- September 1, 2024: Deadline to submit substantive changes requiring approval by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees in December 2024. Carefully review the Substantive Change Policy and Procedures to determine if a substantive change type or the institution’s status (viz., sanction) requires Board review at a regularly scheduled biannual meeting or if the change can be reviewed by the Executive Council of the Board: different deadlines apply. See also “Board review pathways” and “Off-campus Instructional Site Approval” by extensive review in the substantive change policy
Substantive change policy and related policies
Webinars
Upcoming webinars:
- The 2024-2025 webinar series will be announced in spring 2024. All scheduled webinars for the year will be posted here with sign-up links.
Reminder: SACSCOC’s webinars are
- open to everyone, without restriction;
- available on-demand after the live event.
- Note: Multiple in-person one-day substantive change workshops are scheduled for summer and fall 2024. Workshops cover a range of topics and overall guidance for managing substantive change, whereas webinars each target a specific substantive change type or process. Information on upcoming workshops is available on this webpage.
On-demand webinars :
- Good Practices for Substantive Change Submissions – Part 1 [Zoom] and handout [PDF]. (Recorded October 20, 2022)
- Good Practices for Substantive Change Submissions – Part 2 [Zoom] and handout [PDF]. (Recorded November 10, 2022)
- Implementing a Prison Education Program: Synthesizing Policy and Practice [Zoom] and handout [PDF]. (Recorded October 14, 2023; courtesy of Virginia Regional Accreditation Symposium)
- New Substantive Change Policy Video [Vimeo] and handout [PDF] (Recorded at the SACSCOC Annual Meeting, December 2020)
- Off-campus Instructional Site Approvals [Vimeo] and handout [PDF]. This webinar covers the approval criteria and process — including the new extensive review and limited review pathways — for off-campus instructional sites / additional locations. (Recorded June 4, 2021)
- Preparing an Off-campus Instructional Site Prospectus for Approval by Extensive Review [Zoom] and handout [PDF]. This webinar provides guidance for preparing an extensive review (versus a limited review) prospectus for new off-campus instructional sites / additional locations. (Recorded January 20, 2022)
- Prison Education Program (PEP): Follow-up + Update [Zoom] and handout [PDF]. This webinar shares lessons learned from the first PEP prospectuses reviewed by SACSCOC. Emphasis is on knowing and avoiding obstacles to a successful review. (Recorded January 17, 2024)
- Prison Education Program (PEP): New Policy Requirements [Zoom] and handout [PDF].This webinar addresses new policy requirements and the implementation procedures for the Prison Education Program incorporated into the SACSCOC substantive change policy and procedures in March 2023. (Recorded April 6, 2023)
- Substantive Change Restriction [Vimeo] and handout [PDF]. This webinar covers the new Substantive Change Restriction status that creates additional or different substantive change requirements for institutions meeting defined criteria. (Recorded June 18, 2021)
- Understanding the SACSCOC Substantive Change Policy: Off-campus Instructional Sites [YouTube] and handout [PDF]. (Recording courtesy Tennessee Accreditation Network; recorded April 29, 2022.) You’ll learn what constitutes an off-campus instructional site (OCIS) / additional location, what sites require approval (versus notification or no action), requirements and process for approvals by extensive review and by limited review, and when and how a teach-out plan should be submitted.
Documents and Templates