Pima Community College placed on probation by national accreditation board

April 17, 2013

 Pima Community College in Tucson has been placed on probation by a national accreditation board. PCC has been ordered to correct problems concerning personnel and financial issues.

PCC was notified of its probationary status by the Higher Learning Commission this week. The HLC has identified several issues including financial management, oversight practices of the college’s governing board, employee grievances, planning and integrity of the institution.

Pima College spokesman Paul Schwalbach said the probationary status won’t prevent PCC students who get financial assistance or want to transfer credits from attending another college or university.

“The quality of our degrees and programs is undiminished. The HLC has not identified any problems with PCC academics or student services," Shwalbach said. "For students then, this process of being on probation and getting off of probation will be invisible.”

PCC must submit a plan to the HLC about how it will deal with the problems by August. PCC must also prepare a self-study report due next year.

The commission will decide whether to remove the college from probation sometime in 2015.