Military Institutions

Military institutions authorized and operated by the federal government to award degrees operate under constraints imposed by federal statute or regulation. In the following specific instances, these constraints require an alternative means of demonstrating compliance with the standards found in the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement.

Responses to this standard should address the following:

4.1 The institution has a public board of at least five members that

(a) has broad and significant influence on the institution’s programs and operations and plays an active role in policy-making. (b) ensures that the financial resources of the institution are used to provide a sound educational program. (c) ensures that both the presiding officer and a majority of other board members are neither civilian employees of the military nor active/retired military. Both the presiding officer of the board and a majority of other voting board members are free of any contractual, employment, personal or familial financial interest in the institution. (d) is not controlled by a minority of board members or by organizations or interest separate from the board except as specified by the authorizing legislation. (e) is not presided over by the chief executive officer of the institution.

Federally-funded military institutions are not required to conduct or submit annual audits of their financial statements. Therefore, these institutions will not be required to provide audited financial statements (or a Standard Review Report) to demonstrate compliance with Core Requirement 13.2 and used to support the narratives of Core Requirement 13.1 (Financial resources) and Standard 13.3 (Financial responsibility). Instead, such institutions will be asked to provide the following:

1. Statements of financial activities for the two most recent fiscal years.
2. Reviews which demonstrate effective fiscal management controls.
3. Board-approved budget for the current fiscal year.

This information must accurately represent the total operation of the institution and must be sufficient to demonstrate adequate financial support of programs and operations. The CEO’s signature is required to certify the factual nature of the documents submitted.