Dec. 9, 2025 — Email from President Alison Morrison-Shetlar to the Lynchburg Community:
Dear University of Lynchburg Community,
I am writing to provide an update on the University of Lynchburg’s recent reaffirmation review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
I am pleased to report that, thanks to the phenomenally hard work of so many of you, we have cleared three of the five accreditation standards that initially put us on warning — including the core finance requirement, which was the primary reason for the warning. This is awesome and, honestly, uncommon among institutions in this position. Your efforts have moved us forward considerably, and I am so grateful. Thank you.
The SACSCOC board applauded our significant financial progress and plan for a balanced budget. They have now asked to see a balanced audit at the end of this fiscal year (2026), showing our ability to stick to the budget we created. This means we will remain on warning for a second year, as is typical for institutions placed on warning, and was fully expected. We will continue to be fiscally responsible as we strive to reach that balanced audit.
We additionally must make a slight change to our learning outcomes assessment process within the next year to achieve full compliance with the second outstanding standard. I want to give special thanks to Dr. Amy Merrill Willis, deans, and program directors for their remarkable work this year in advancing our student learning outcomes assessment and for providing SACSCOC with strong evidence of our commitment to improvement.
Our future at the University of Lynchburg is bright. In fact, the institution is more stable than it’s been in many years. Looking back, the road has been challenging, but we have come so far. I believe our best days are still to come, and we are beginning to see them on the horizon.
Thank you again for all you do. It is a GREAT day to be a Hornet!
Sincerely,
Alison Morrison-Shetlar, Ph.D.
President, University of Lynchburg
Dec. 10, 2024 — Email from President Alison Morrison-Shetlar to the Lynchburg Community
Dear University of Lynchburg Community,
I am writing to provide an update on the University of Lynchburg’s recent reaffirmation review by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
I am pleased to share that on Dec. 10, 2024, SACSCOC informed us that the University of Lynchburg remains accredited. However, the full reaffirmation process is not complete. SACSCOC has placed us on warning status until we address some remaining areas for improvement. They have given us an additional year to demonstrate our compliance.
This was not wholly unexpected. As you know, the University has already transformed in many ways this year — great things are happening with our students, and our rankings are steadily climbing. So allow me to explain the nuances of this news so we all understand what it means.
Areas for Improvement:
As it does for every institution during the reaffirmation process, SACSCOC has identified specific areas for continuous improvement. In our instance, we will partner with them to further strengthen the University’s compliance with the following standards:
- Standard 7.3 (Administrative effectiveness)
- Standard 8.2.a (Student outcomes: educational programs)
- Standard 8.2.c (Student outcomes: academic and student services)
- Core Requirement 13.2 (Financial documents)
- Standard 13.3 (Financial responsibility)
What does this mean?
As I have said previously, we are committed to our mission of cultivating an innovative, authentic, and inclusive world by inspiring independent thinkers who become trustworthy, effective leaders who shape caring communities.
The changes made several months ago to right-size our University and accomplish this vision and mission will have a significant financial impact — an impact that will not be fully realized within the next 12 months. Essentially, today’s news means SACSCOC has accelerated our timeline to achieve our goals.
We must remain on the course we have set, but also put two more action plans in place:
- 1. Continue our deep assessment of our expenses to find additional savings.
- 2. Increase both undergraduate and graduate enrollment this spring and the upcoming fall.
Next Steps:
We will receive a formal letter from SACSCOC in January with additional details outlining their expectations. In response, we will submit a report by December 2025 demonstrating that we have met these standards, including but not limited to achieving a balanced budget.
Our Path Forward:
The good news is that we had already identified most of these areas as needing improvement during our internal 10-year reaffirmation review process and have been actively working to address them. The SACSCOC onsite visit simply reinforced the need to continue this important work.
Over the past three years, we have taken significant steps, including:
- Early retirement packages
- Workforce reductions
- Elimination of academic and non-academic programs
- Budget reductions across campus units
- Development of programs to enhance the recruitment and retention of students, faculty, and staff
- Expansion of our new student recruitment efforts beyond Central Virginia
These measures have laid the groundwork for us to meet SACSCOC’s standards. However, we must diligently press on in two particular efforts: bringing our operating budget in line with our revenue and ensuring regular assessment of all our programs.
Call to Action:
To achieve these goals, we must further reduce spending for the current fiscal year (ending June 30, 2025) to balance the budget. Taking action quickly is vital, as waiting until next year (2025-26) is not an option. It is an absolute necessity.
I’ll be candid—reaching budget neutrality will require all of us to work together to make wise fiscal decisions over the next six months. To take the first step toward bringing this institution into financial stability, my leadership team and I have collectively decided to take a salary cut.
Other institutional changes will be implemented over the coming months. Still, I am confident that we, as a Hornet community, can meet and rise above this challenge. I invite each of you to share your ideas and suggestions on how we can best achieve our goals.
While this situation may feel daunting, please know that we have already overcome many of the hurdles along our reaccreditation journey. I remain optimistic about our future, as should you.
The University of Lynchburg has a strong foundation, extraordinary employees, and incredible students. I’m confident we will emerge from this challenge stronger than ever by working together with courage and determination. Thank you for your understanding and for all you do.
SACSCOC Status FAQ
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) is a regional organization accrediting colleges and universities. Regional accreditation is an important indication that a college or university is operating acceptably based on evaluation criteria set by peer member institutions.
All accredited institutions of higher education go through a reaffirmation process every 10 years. This is our regularly scheduled accreditation review.
No. The University continues to be accredited.
Failure to comply with or to make significant progress toward correcting deficiencies that lead to non-compliance with the Principles of Accreditation may result in an institution being placed on warning.
SACSCOC noted the following Principles of Accreditation need some improvement:
Standard 8.2.a (Student outcomes: educational programs)
Standard 13.3 (Financial responsibility)
The issues leading to this decision occurred over numerous years of dealing with financial challenges, declining undergraduate enrollment, and aging infrastructure. Unfortunately, COVID-19 impacted enrollment in the 2021-22 academic year, thereby affecting overall revenue. Since that class, however, undergraduate enrollment has increased steadily each year.
The University has been placed on a 12-month warning and will submit a monitoring report describing progress toward compliance with SACSCOC in December 2026.
No. The quality of Lynchburg’s academic programs is not in question. The University still has the ability to award federal financial aid and offer degrees.
Yes. The University remains eligible to distribute federal financial aid.
No. The SACSCOC Warning status will not affect our course offerings.
Lynchburg is well on its way to resolving the outstanding issues. New enrollment initiatives, new academic programs, a focus on student life, enhanced infrastructure, the addition of new athletic programs, and certificate programs are already yielding positive results in stabilizing and growing enrollment.
