Accreditation

The Higher Learning Commission accredits the College. Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) volunteers to seek accreditation. Accreditation is not a requirement but is important to the college.

The college received initial candidacy for accreditation in 1978. In April of 1980, the college received its first biennial visit to review progress and development. As a result of this visit, Turtle Mountain Community College was granted continued Candidate Status for an additional two years. The college received a team of North Central Association evaluators for a second biennial visit in April of 1982. The team’s report again recommended the college be continued in Candidate Status at the Associate Degree granting level.

In April of 1984, a team of evaluators visited Turtle Mountain Community and in August of that year the North Central Executive Board granted the college Accreditation. In April of 1989, a team of evaluators visited Turtle Mountain Community College to determine if continued accreditation should be granted. Members of the team concluded that the college met continued accreditation criteria and made this recommendation to the full NCA commission. On August 25, 1989, the commission voted to continue the accreditation of Turtle Mountain Community College. In October of 1993, NCA sent a team of evaluators to review the college’s request for continued accreditation. As a result, the College was granted ten years of accreditation with a focus visit to occur in the spring of 1996. The focus visit resulted in the college receiving full accreditation. In April 2001, The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) granted full accreditation for the first baccalaureate degree, a Bachelor of Elementary Education.

On October 22, 2003, Turtle Mountain Community College was recommended by a visiting team from the Higher Learning Commission for 10 more years of accreditation with reports and focus visit requirements.

The Higher Learning Commission visited TMCC in March 2014 as part of the reaffirmation process. This visit resulted in a recommendation for reaffirmation of accreditation, with the next evaluation to occur academic year 2023-2024.  Along with reaffirmation of accreditation, two monitoring reports were required.  The first was on Assignment of Academic Credit Policies, which was submitted and accepted August 2014, fulfilling this reporting requirement.  The second monitoring report was on the Assessment of Student Learning, which was submitted June 2015.

Accreditation Documentation

Formal Notification of Accreditation Letter (119 KB PDF)
Higher Learning Commission of NCA Report (4.1 MB PDF)
Reader Panel (78 KB PDF)
Statement of Affiliation Status (76 KB PDF)
Turtle Mountain Community College Self Study Document (2.7 MB PDF)
2008 Focused Visit Report – Team Report (2.01 MB PDF)
Self Study
Federal Compliance Worksheet
Federal Compliance
Report of a Comprehensive Evaluation Visit, 2014 (1.22 MB PDF)
HLC Action Letter Nov 19, 2019

HLC Visit Overview

Turtle Mountain Community College is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC)

Turtle Mountain Community College conducted a self-study of its programs and processes and hosted the Higher Learning Commission’s Self-study visiting team on campus  2013. Faculty, students, and staff attended several open forums during the visit. Accreditation is important because it allows students to be eligible for federal and state financial aid, gives assurance that a Turtle Mountain Community College degree is valid, assures donors and potential students that an TMCC education is valuable, and provides flexibility for transfer of credit to or from other institutions.

If you have questions contact Dr. Donna Brown, President, at 701.477.7978 or dbrown@tm.edu.