Unversity Life

American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE)

American Pathways University is a member of the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE), national accreditor of outstanding liberal arts colleges and universities, with the status of institutional preaccreditation. AALE’s review and evaluation of American Pathways University is available on the University’s website (www.apudenver.org). The American Academy for Liberal Education is the national association that accredits institutions offering quality general education programs in the liberal arts that meet the Academy’s stringent educational, administrative, and financial criteria. Interested parties in the University’s accreditation may contact the American Academy for Liberal Education, 1050 17th St., NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 290036 or www.aale.org.

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) is listed by the Secretary of the United States Department of Education as a recognized national accrediting agency for the accreditation and preaccreditation of institutions of higher education and programs within institutions of higher education that offer liberal arts degrees at the baccalaureate level. AALE is a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-sectarian agency. Accrediting agencies in the United States are subject to quality review, routinely undergoing the process of recognition by the U.S. federal government through the United States Department of Education. A complete list of these recognized and approved agencies, including AALE, is available on the website of the United States Department of Education (www.ed.gov).

More about AALE
AALE is unique in the accreditation community in grounding accreditation on a rigorous set of Education Standards. Accreditation by AALE signifies institutional integrity and a strong commitment to liberal education. Membership certifies that the institution meets or exceeds the Academy’s independently established Education Standards. The Academy’s accreditation standards are focused on matters of educational significance, including curricular design and quality, commitment to excellence in teaching, and evidence of student learning. Students are required to complete demanding core studies in the arts, sciences, and humanities taught by senior as well as junior faculty. AALE provides the Colorado Department of Education, other agencies, faculty and registrars of colleges and universities, and parents and prospective students with a clear means for identifying curricula with a focused, well-articulated core of languages, history, mathematics, science, literature, philosophy, and other elements of liberal education.

More about Accreditation
Accreditation is the primary means by which the quality of higher education and programs disseminated by the institutions of postsecondary education based or operating in the United States is assured. Accreditation is a voluntary, private and nongovernmental process, and a form of self-regulation in which colleges, universities and programs of higher education of the United States have come together to develop standards, policies, and procedures for self-examination and judgment by peers.

Accreditation is carried out through private and nonprofit organizations that review entire institutions. Such agencies are known as national accreditors, like AALE, or regional accreditors, such as the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools/Higher Learning Commission. Both national and regional accreditors conduct such reviews in a similar manner by requiring self-study by the institution, evaluation by peers (including on site evaluation visits by scholars and university administrators), and a judgment about the accredited status based on standards of quality developed by the accrediting organization in consultation with the higher education community.