The announcement caps a turnaround from a not-so-distant time when the Northeast Pennsylvania college faced potential failure

LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — The Middle States Commission on Higher Education said Friday that Keystone College, a Northeastern Pennsylvania institution that just over a year ago nearly had to shut its doors, meets compliance standards and no longer needs to show the accrediting agency why it should not revoke its seal of approval.

The announcement caps a turnaround from a point in time when the college, which sits at the line of Lackawanna and Wyoming counties, faced potential failure.

“This is the best outcome that Keystone could have received and one which we have worked very hard to secure,” Keystone President John F. Pullo Sr. said in a statement. 

Keystone, which recently merged with the Washington Institute for Education and Research, had been required to appear before the commission next month with their accreditation potentially at stake. That recognition from an accrediting body impacts access to federal financial aid. 

The college’s accreditation status had been on shaky ground because Middle States worried in 2024 that the school’s precarious finances could, at the time, force it to close. The collapse of an earlier deal between Keystone and WEIR undergirded those concerns.

By November that year, Middle States announced its intention withdraw the school’s accreditation, which Keystone appealed because the school and WEIR reached a new agreement. That deal which finalized in June last year. 

Middle States maintained the college’s accreditation while the appeal unfolded.

The decision this week to reaffirm Keystone’s accreditation moves the school away from danger, though the school still must submit a monitoring report to Middle States in the fall to “demonstrate that the corrective measures put into place are lasting and that it continues to meet accreditation expectations.”