The American Institute for Paralegal Studies, Inc. has been continuously accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET) since 1981. ACCET is a national accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. For more information about ACCET, visit http://www.accet.org.
ACCET is one of a handful of accrediting bodies which requires its accredited schools to report annually on completion and placement statistics. Just try to get this information from a college, university, or correspondence/home study school! Good luck!
We are proud to report completion and placement statistics for students scheduled to graduate in calendar year 2007. These include all students who started during calendar year 2006 (January through November).
82% of students who started the program graduated prior to our reporting deadline (others are still enrolled and will complete later).
92% of eligible graduates report that they are working in training related positions.
These statistics are a tribute to the quality of students who enroll with the Institute, the dedication of faculty, and the hard work of staff. Thank you to everyone who has made this success possible.
Click here for the actual annual report submitted by the Institute to ACCET. The second page of the file provides the ACCET definitions for your reference.
For comparison purposes, here is a summary of our Completion and Placement reporting for the last four years:
| Scheduled to Graduate | Completion Rate | Placement Rate |
| 2002 | 88% | 93% |
| 2003 | 84% | 91% |
| 2004 | 85% | 91% |
| 2005 | 83% | 95% |
| 2006 | 81% | 90% |
| 2007 | 82% | 92% |
What does scheduled to graduate mean?
When a group of students starts our program, we determine the expected graduation date for that group of students. Our program takes about one year to complete, exclusive of December.
The count of students scheduled to graduate is "locked" once enrollment is finalized. This insures that all schools report consistent statistics which can be verified during an on site visit by an accrediting team. This count is aptly called "Starts".
Got all this so far? Well, what happens to students who "start"?
At the end of the period of completion, all students have a status of some sort. Here are the possibilities:
GRD - Most students have graduated when the period of completion comes to an end.As you might expect, graduates are reported as completions. However, to be fair to schools, students who drop out -and- who are working in training related positions, are reported as completions. (Note, students who drop are NOT included in the placement calculation.)ENR - A student could still be enrolled after the period of completion. For example, an illness could have caused the student to take a leave of absence. For reporting purposes to ACCET, a student still ENR after the end of the period of completion is treated as a drop out.
WD/DIS - A student may have voluntarily withdrawn from the program or been dismissed for poor academic performance.
How is the completion rate calculated?
Now that we've defined the terms, it is pretty simple:
Completion Rate = [Graduates + placed WD students] / Starts * 100
Graduates who are working in training related positions are considered placed, whether or not the school had any direct contact with their employer and whether or not the student had the training related position before enrollment. To report a student as placed, we must have on file the graduate's name, employer's name, and the job title or job description.
Some graduates are considered to have waived placement. For example, students who are late in their payments cannot expect to receive placement services from the school. Other graduates have moved, are taking a leave of absence from work for illness, family reasons, etc. Others are pursuing advanced educational opportunities. Some may be biding their time waiting for a promotion from within their current company.
For a school to consider a student waived, it must have documentation of the waiver on file, signed or otherwise attested to by the graduate. A school may not report more than 15% of its graduating cohort as placement waivers.
How is the placement rate calculated?
Placed graduates / [Total Starts scheduled to graduate - waived graduates] * 100
If you would like an explanation of the statistics, please do not hesitate to ask:
via e-mail: annie.sacks@americanparalegal.edu
via phone:1-800-553-2420
