Internal Costs of Accreditation

There are many roles in preparing for and achieving accreditation. Some of the activities may be completed by internal staff and some by outside consultants. Each school needs to determine which activities will be completed by which person or group. Most accrediting agencies require that a financial audit of the school be completed by certified public accounts, a cost that will range from $5,000 to $10,000.
The average number of hours for specific activities in the accreditation process that need to be budgeted for include:

  Preparing the Application - 100 Hours
  Preparing the Self-Study Report - 250 Hours  
  Developing New Policies and Procedures - 60 Hours
  Reviewing and Revising Existing Policies and Procedures -  60 Hours
  Preparing for the Site Evaluation - 100 Hours
  Faculty and Staff Time During the Site Evaluation - 40 Hours
  Post Visit Debriefing of Faculty and Staff - 20 Hours
  Responding to The Team Report - 40 Hours
  Commission Follow-Up - 40 hours

This amounts to over 700 hours of your and your staffs' time.