Florida colleges shun Clayton grads

Clayton County students suffered another blow Thursday when they learned Florida’s 11 public universities will not accept graduates of unaccredited schools.

Florida state law says students should have a diploma from “a regionally accredited high school.”

Clayton County schools headlines:

• Photos: Timeline of Clayton schools' woes

• Union members protest Clayton school pick 
• Retired Marine says he's a contender for Clayton schools chief 
• Clayton poised to hire retired Marine as superintendent 
• Clayton schools regain accreditation 
• Clayton schools to get $25M in federal aid 

• AJC editorial: Less hope

• Read the full report to SACS:
  • Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Large PDFs)



• Read SACS' report (PDF)

Clayton County news

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools revoked Clayton’s accreditation effective Sept. 1, making the 50,000-student system the second in the nation in the past 40 years to lose accreditation.

“Unfortunately we can only consider applicants from SACS accredited institutions,” wrote Barbara Cox, director of Admissions for Florida A&M University.

Ashton Soles, a junior at Lovejoy High School, has wanted to go to Florida A&M University since he was a little boy. Soles, who plays the trumpet, saxophone and tuba, said he fell in love with the university’s marching band while attending a football game with his father, who graduated from FAMU. So his family’s not giving up.

“They said no, but we will do whatever it takes,” said Ashton’s mom, Sonja Soles.

U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) on Thursday announced Florida officials’ decision not to admit Clayton graduates after meeting with Florida admissions officials.

“They will not accept students from non-accredited schools. They explained to us it’s a state decision,” Scott said. “We’re trying to find out what other states are like this so we can see the extent of the problem.”

Scott also submitted a letter to the Association of American College Registrars and Admissions Officers, which represents about 10,000 schools, explaining Clayton’s situation.

“I want them to know this is not the students’ fault. We have some wonderful, outstanding students,” Scott said. “This is the fault of a board that just didn’t have the schools’ interest at heart.”

Bill Edmonds, spokesman for the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida, said the universities do make exceptions for students who are home-schooled and may reconsider Clayton’s case.

“Accreditation provides assurance they met minimum standards. When you lose accreditation, it’s problematic and you lose that assurance,” Edmonds said. “I’m sure admission officers are aware of this and will treat these students as fairly as they can.”

Last fall, 2,663 of the 302,000 students in the Florida university system came from Georgia, according to Edmonds. He said Florida did not count the number of students from Clayton County.

Earlier this year, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, agreed to accept Clayton students. The legislature also passed a bill allowing students who graduate from unaccredited schools to receive HOPE scholarships until June 2010.

In Alabama, the decision on whether to accept any Clayton graduates is up to individual admissions directors at the state’s 16 public universities, said Margaret Gunter, spokeswoman for the Commission on Higher Education for Alabama. However, Alabama schools would prefer students who graduate from an accredited high school, Gunter added.

Virginia education officials said accreditation status will not affect student admission for Virginia public universities.

Staff reporters John Hollis and Gayle White contributed to this article.