Mountain State University’s accreditation has been extended until the end of the year. The extension was granted based on the Mountain State’s appeal of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (HLC)’s decision revoking the university’s general accreditation.
If no appeal had been filed, Mountain State would have lost its accreditation on Aug. 27. The university sought an extension through June 2013, pending the outcome of the appeal. However, the accreditor granted the extension until Dec. 31.
Mountain State appealed by stating that the decision to revoke the school’s accreditation was “arbitrary, capricious and not based on substantial evidence.”
Mountain State’s interim president, Richard Sours, also <a href="revealed that the school is planning to begin liquidating some of the school’s physical assets in order to remain financially solvent. Among the first things to be placed on the market will be the university president’s house and a shopping mall the school purchased in 2010 with a $7 million loan.
The acquisition of the mall was designed to allow the school to expand its Martinsburg, W. Va satellite campus. In order to better facilitate the necessary renovation and expansion of the Martinsburg shopping mall, Mountain State took out a $10.2 million loan in 2011 to pay off the original $7 million loan on the property.
The school has recently suspended enrollment, laid off 50% of its work force, and faced dozens of lawsuits.
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