Comment on Stanley Nolan's hank you for this post — your summary of the Triad captures the heart of it well. The point about accreditation being highly recommended rather than universally mandatory is one I want to sit with. It reflects the way our system balances institutional freedom with student protection, since the moment an institution wants to access Title IV funding, the recommendation effectively becomes a requirement.
I also appreciated your point about the State's role in instructor credentialing and licensure. In my work as an Early College Center Director, I see this play out directly — every faculty member teaching dual-enrollment courses must meet credential standards that satisfy both our accreditor and Virginia's regulatory expectations. What can feel like duplicate paperwork is actually two Triad partners verifying the same thing from different angles, and that redundancy is itself a feature of the system rather than a flaw.
