{"id":248739,"date":"2026-07-21T20:30:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/248739\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T20:30:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:30:27","slug":"albright-college-warned-by-accreditors-over-financial-instability-budgeting-issues-spotlight-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/248739\/","title":{"rendered":"Albright College warned by accreditors over financial instability, budgeting issues | Spotlight Pa"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA<\/a>, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at spotlightpa.org\/newsletters\/gooddayberks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READING \u2014 Albright College has been warned that continued poor budgeting and financial instability could risk the eventual loss of its accreditation.<\/p>\n

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education issued<\/a> notices last month to over a dozen schools, including the private Berks County liberal arts college, for issues such as budgeting, educational effectiveness, and ensuring adequate physical and technical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Albright received a noncompliance warning, which is the least serious type of noncompliance notice the commission offers.<\/p>\n

Three other Pennsylvania institutions received warnings, while the private and Christian University of Valley Forge in Chester County received a show-cause notice<\/a> \u2014 the most serious action.<\/p>\n

To be accredited, colleges must meet academic standards set by a commission recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.<\/p>\n

No law requires schools to be accredited, but the status allows students to transfer credits and for degrees to be recognized by other institutions and employers. Additionally, accreditation is required for students to receive federal financial aid for the college they\u2019re attending.<\/p>\n

University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor Robert Kelchen, an expert in higher education finance, accountability policies, and practices, said colleges and universities commonly fall out of compliance with accrediting agencies. For Albright College, the warning serves as an early alert to accreditors having concerns.<\/p>\n

But the private college in Reading isn\u2019t high on the commission\u2019s radar at this point, Kelchen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not like accreditation loss is imminent,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it’s the accreditor sending a clear message that if you can’t turn things around in the next year or so, then you may really be at risk of losing accreditation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albright has until Feb. 16, 2027, to show accreditors it \u201chas achieved and can sustain ongoing compliance<\/a>\u201d with Standard VI<\/a>, which deals with planning, resources, and institutional improvement. The college will have a site visit with the Middle States Commission in March.<\/p>\n

Albright College President Debra Townsley told Spotlight PA on July 2 that students, faculty, and staff were notified June 30 of the accreditor\u2019s warning, as was the college\u2019s Board of Trustees.<\/p>\n

In a June 30 email to Albright staff obtained by Spotlight PA, administrators said over the past year the school had submitted a self-study report addressing \u201call operations of the college\u201d to the commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe college satisfactorily met almost all of the required standards of [accreditors], but improvement of our financial condition remains,\u201d Irene Langran, vice president for academic affairs, wrote. Because of this, Albright was issued a warning, and accreditors want \u201cto see continued improvement in the financials of the college over the coming year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsley said the self-study report was based on \u201cmultiple prior years, including COVID and post-covid years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The warning from accreditors comes after an audit earlier this year<\/a> found the college\u2019s touted $10 million<\/a> surplus was less than half that<\/a>, underscoring the school\u2019s continued financial strain. In a routine review, auditors also flagged a material weakness due to turnover in positions like the controller. A material weakness is a serious, systemic failure in an organization\u2019s internal financial controls, which can lead to errors in financial statements.<\/p>\n

Kelchen said it\u2019s \u201cquite possible\u201d that Albright College\u2019s critical audit released earlier this year<\/a> played a part in accreditors flagging the college\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be driven more by other factors,\u201d Kelchen added. \u201cThe other factors that could potentially trip the accreditor would be \u2026 an institution being placed on heightened cash monitoring by the Department of Education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albright College has been on heightened cash monitoring for \u201cfinancial responsibility\u201d since September 2025, according to the federal education department.<\/p>\n

Townsley said the material weakness in the college\u2019s latest audit \u201cdid not contribute\u201d to the accreditor’s warning. Some of what was requested, like an IT plan, hadn\u2019t been written, Townsley added, but that will be in place this coming year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, we have implemented a turnaround. When the report was submitted to [the Middle States Commission], only one year of the report was based on the turnaround and turnarounds take three to five years,\u201d Townsley said. \u201cWe maintain our accreditation and all student financial aid is unaffected. As noted above, we are continuing in our turnaround strategies and the transformation of the college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albright remains accredited for now, but the Middle States Commission gave the educational institution a deadline to take corrective measures to be deemed compliant. Specifically, the commission asked the college to provide:<\/p>\n

A financial planning and budgeting process that aligns with the college\u2019s mission and goals.<\/p>\n

Documented financial resources, a funding base, and plans for \u201cfinancial development adequate to support its educational purposes and programs and to ensure financial stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evidence of actions taken to address findings in prior audited financial statements.<\/p>\n

Comprehensive plans for \u201cfacilities, infrastructure, and technology that includes consideration of sustainability and deferred maintenance and is linked to the institution’s strategic and financial planning processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other local colleges and universities, including Alvernia, Kutztown, Penn State, and Reading Area Community College, all had their accreditations reaffirmed by the commission in recent years.<\/p>\n

Kutztown was issued a noncompliance warning<\/a> by the Middle States Commission in 2018 and returned to compliance the following year. Penn State received a warning in 2012<\/a> amid the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Alvernia has not had any accreditation actions<\/a> against it since at least 2010, according to the commission website.<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO\u2026 If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/a>. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you<\/a> who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[106382,227,128,130,129,13436],"class_list":["post-248739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-college_info_and_news","tag-education","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-spotlight_pa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}