Northwest Commission on College and Universities (NWCCU)
Annual Update for WSQA
Academic Year 2014-2015
College Name: South Seattle College
Contact Person: Naina Eshwar
Contact Phone: (206) 934-6894
Contact email: naina.eshwar@seattlecolleges.edu
Accreditation recommendations to the
College and year of recommendation
Actions taken by the college to address
recommendations
On February 14, 2014, South Seattle
Community College received formal
notification from the Northwest
Commission on Colleges and Universities
(NWCCU) that our accreditation is
reaffirmed.
This notification marks the successful
completion of phase two of the new
seven year accreditation process which
involved the preparation of the Year
Three Self-Evaluation Report and
culminated in the evaluation team site
visit.
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Improvement results
Recommendation 1 from 2013:
“While the College has revised the
conceptual framework that provides
improved clarity of the design for an
acceptable threshold for mission
fulfillment, the Committee recommends
that the College continue this work by
refining and aligning a definition of
Mission Fulfillment that identifies
achievement at an acceptable threshold
in measurable terms. (Standard 1.A.2)”
(Recommendation 1)
In response to Recommendations 1 and 2 from
2013, a series of meetings occurred that
involved Vice Presidents and other members of
the President’s Cabinet, senior research
personnel, trained accreditation evaluators
from within the College, and other individuals
knowledgeable about the accreditation process
including the campus Accreditation Executive
Committee. The strategy identified through
these meetings was to reduce the number of
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and in doing
so to refine them so that they directly address
the matters of greatest importance to the
College’s mission. Based on that refined set of
KPIs, a new definition of mission fulfillment has
been drafted and is in the process of being
tested and refined still further. The new
definition reflects the accreditors’ requirement
that our indicators be meaningful, measurable,
and verifiable, as well as providing a clearer and
more straightforward definition that will be
understandable by all stakeholders.
(Recommendation 1)
The number of indicators has been reduced
from 36 in the 2013 self-study, to approximately
13 tightly focused, meaningful, measurable, and
verifiable indicators currently. This focused set
of KPIs allows a crisp definition of mission
fulfillment that will be refined and tested over
the coming year.
Recommendation 2 from 2013:
“The committee recommends that the
College continue to refine its success
indicators for improved alignment with
core theme objectives so that
subsequent planning, assessment, and
improvement activities are meaningfully
developed over the seven-year cycle.
(Standard1.B.2)”
Recommendation 3 from 2013:
“The committee recommends the
College regularly reviews the human
resources policies and procedures.
(Standard 2.A.6 and 2.A.18)”
(Recommendation 2)
This Recommendation is directly linked to
Recommendation 1 from 2013, and our
response has been described above.
(Recommendation 2)
As with respect to Recommendation 1 from
2013, this refined set of KPIs is undergoing
validity testing and further refinement. The final
set will be reflected in the College’s next selfstudy as part of the routine accreditation
process.
(Recommendation 3)
The District Office is currently reviewing and
updating all policies and procedures. The
Human Resources team meets every other
week and reviews at least two proposed or
(Recommendation 3)
Since July 1, 2014, the following HR policies have
been updated:
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
404 Workforce Diversity Policy and
existing policies/procedures.
Review of every personnel policy and
procedure has been spread out over a two year
timeline, effective July 1, 2014.
Procedure

419 Discrimination and Harassment Policy
and Procedure

476 Other Exempt Leaves of Absence
Procedure

480 Unpaid Holidays for Reasons of Faith or
Conscience Policy
Policies currently under review:
Recommendation 4 from 2013:
“The committee recommends that for
each year of operation, the College
undergo an external financial audit and
that the results from such audits,
including findings and management
letter recommendations, be considered
in a timely, appropriate, and
comprehensive manner by the Board of
Trustees. (Eligibility Requirement 19 and
Standard 2.F.7)”
(Recommendation 4)
This recommendation applies to all the colleges
in the Seattle District, and all the colleges in the
State of Washington. South is now working
with other colleges across the state to undergo
annual external audits.
In order to accomplish this standard, and
address Recommendation 4, there was
recognition that the college must meet three
important milestones:
(1) Develop financial statements in accordance
with generally accepted accounting
principles.
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
417 Shared Leave Procedure

418 Reasonable Accommodations Policy and
Procedure

420 Domestic Violence Leave Policy and
Procedure (NEW)

465/466/468/469 Administrative Employees
Policy and Procedure
(Recommendation 4)
In accordance with the Commission’s request,
on September 15, 2015, the college submitted
an updated Ad Hoc Report that outlined the
actions that had been taken to document
compliance with Eligibility Requirement 19 and
Standard 2.F.7 that included copies of:
(1) The final Seattle Colleges Financial Report
for 2013 developed in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles.
(2) The Financial Statements Audit Report for
Seattle Community Colleges prepared by the
Washington State Auditor’s office that
(2) Contract with professionally qualified
personnel to audit the financial statements.
(3) The college’s administration and board
must review and consider the results of the
financial statement audit in a timely,
appropriate and comprehensive manner.
Developing financial statements in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles
Washington community and technical colleges
historically have been included in the State of
Washington’s financial statements. The state
follows the Governmental Accounting
Standards Board’s (GASB) pronouncement
number 34 (GASB 34) Basic Financial
Statements-- and Management’s Discussion
and Analysis—for State and Local Governments.
General purpose governments, such as the
State of Washington, engage in both
governmental and business-type activities and
must prepare statements that reflect both. As
a result of reporting to the state, the college’s
financial information and financial systems are
configured to meet the reporting standards
applicable to the state, where some activity is
reported as governmental while other activity
is reported as business-type activity. Roughly
ninety-two percent of Washington community
and technical colleges’ spending in FY13 was
reported using the accounting standards
applicable to governmental type activities with
only eight percent being reported as businesstype activities.
In contrast, GASB requires that special purpose
governments, such as public colleges, that are
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determined that there had been no material
misstatements in Seattle Colleges’ financial
statement, no significant deficiencies in
internal control over reporting and no
instances of noncompliance.
(3) A copy of minutes of the Seattle College
District Board of Trustees meeting
documenting the college’s administration
and board had reviewed the results of the
financial statement in a timely, appropriate
and comprehensive manner
engaged in only business-type activities should
present the financial statements required for
enterprise funds. As a result, Washington’s
Community and Technical Colleges are faced
with reviewing and restating approximately
ninety-two percent of their activity from one
accounting standard to another. Since our
accounting systems were not designed to do
this, it requires a painstaking review and
adjustment process for each college. While
much of the accounting information that is
prepared for state reporting can be repurposed
for the college’s statements, the restatement
process is manual, meticulous and timeconsuming.
In order to share knowledge about the
restatement process across colleges, the State
Board for Community and Technical Colleges
(the SBCTC) convened a pilot group consisting
of nine colleges. South Seattle College was a
member of the pilot group. A variety of tools
were developed to assist colleges with the
process of restating their financial information
to business-type activity reporting. Starting in
December 2013, these colleges began the
process of preparing an inaugural set of
financial statements for FY2012-13.
Throughout the process, as additional
challenges were identified, additional tools
were developed and pilot colleges shared the
knowledge gained with one another. The first
colleges completed their statements in May
2014. South Seattle College expects to
complete its inaugural statements by the end
of August, 2014.
Contracting with professionally qualified
personnel to audit the financial statements
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Pilot colleges contracted with the Washington’s
State Auditor’s Office (SAO) to audit their
financial statements. SAO conducts financial
statement audits using generally accepted
governmental auditing standards as
promulgated on the U.S. Government
Accountability Office’s Government Auditing
Standards (the “Yellow Book”). Washington
state law established SAO as the auditor of
public accounts. SAO employees are
experienced in auditing public universities’
business-type activity financial statements,
having audited five of Washington’s six public
four-year colleges since GASB 34 became
effective in 2002.
SAO began the audit of the first two pilot
colleges in May 2014. Pilot colleges continue to
share knowledge with one another concerning
any further adjustments the auditors have
recommended or may recommend in the
future.
Review and consideration of financial audit
results by the college’s administration and
board:
Upon completion of the financial statements,
financial managers from the college will review
the statements with college administration. In
addition, auditing standards require the auditor
to present their report to college management
and the governing board. This
is usually accomplished by having the
Chancellor, President and at least one Board
member attend the audit exit conference,
along with the college’s financial managers.
Also, the community and technical college
presidents (convening as the Washington
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Associations of Community and Technical
Colleges, or WACTC) recognized that they and
their board members have not previously
present an initial overview of what they can
expect the financial statements to look like—
and how to read them.
This overview was presented to pilot college
presidents in May 2014. It will be presented to
non-pilot college presidents in September
2014. It will also be made available for
interested college trustees during their fall
2014 Conference in November 2014.
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