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Reaccredited Rust College Moves Forward

By Angela Watson
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Rust College Reaccreditation of Rust College underscores its standards, college president David L. Beckley said.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has reaccredited Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss., for another 10-year term. The decision allows Rust, a college with about 1,100 students, to continue to participate in such federal and state programs as work-study tuition assistance and its students to receive Pell Grants and loans uninterrupted.

It also means continued support from the United Methodist Church, from foundations and from corporations.

President David L. Beckley announced the news in a telephone interview over the college-owned public radio station, WURC-FM, on his way back from SACS deliberations in Decatur, Ga.

The Dec. 6 reaffirmation of accreditation, Beckley said, underscores the high standards the college maintains. "Without this accreditation, we (Rust College) will not be able to go on," said Beckley.

SACS is a regional accrediting body that accredits more than 13,000 public and private educational institutions in the South, from early childhood centers through university level.

"Rust received its first accreditation in 1969, and every 10 years Southern schools are required to go through a self-study process, to make sure the schools are serving students to achieve their desired goals," Beckley said.

Angela Watson is a student at Rust College who writes for the Rustorian.

Posted March 7, 2005