By Geoffrey S. Kohl
By 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 26, Life University President Dr. Ben DeSpain had received phone messages from more than 20 students wanting to re-enroll in Life University’s College of Chiropractic. As he sat through a photo session in his campus office, the phone continued to ring. The reason for all the calls: The school’s news that Life University and the Council on Chiropractic Education have reached an agreement to resolve the issues surrounding the accreditation status of the university’s Doctor of Chiropractic program. DeSpain said that “The agreement continues Life’s current accredited status and provides for a special accreditation process that is scheduled to be completed by the end of January 2005.”
Details of the confidential agreement between Life University and the CCE which would spell out the actual review process were not released.
The news puts Life University back in full motion, with deans and administrators excited about the possibility to get the Marietta, Ga., based university back on track.
“We’ll learn a great deal about ourselves and our institution,” said DeSpain, about the special accreditation process. “It will make us into a better program. We are especially pleased to renew our relationship with the Council on Chiropractic Education and look forward to a long collegial relationship.”
The current accreditation status ties into a Feb. 10 decision by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles A. Moye Jr., who granted the university’s request for an injunction. Moye’s injunctive relief grandfathered accreditation back to the June 2002 CCE decision to deny reaffirmation of Life University’s accreditation. The Feb. 10 injunction set Life University in motion again, and propelled the school through its spring quarter, which saw an enrollment increase of approximately 250 students in the school’s chiropractic program.
The aftereffect of Moye’s decision was that Life University could continue to grant graduation recognition to its chiropractic students, with approximately 60 students completing their program of study in the winter quarter and nearly 75 students completing their programs at the end of the spring quarter.
According to DeSpain, who was appointed as president of the university on Nov. 19, the school is expecting to see this momentum continue with a jump in enrollment for the summer quarter. He said that he expects the university to gain between 175 and 200 new students this summer, bringing the chiropractic college’s enrollment close to 850.
Asked about students who chose to transfer to other chiropractic colleges, DeSpain said, “We know we’ll get a number of those students back. By the time we get to the fall [quarter], we hope to break 1,000, with an increase of more than 100 students over the summer quarter numbers.”
Life University’s projected enrollment increases stand in the face of a national trend. According to Dr. Deborah Pogrelis, assistant to the president, in the last five years enrollment has dropped across the board at chiropractic colleges. But she noted that with the slowed economy people are reconsidering education options and often choosing to go back to school. As they make their way into education and certification programs, alternative health care and wellness care—of which chiropractic has been a staple for at least five decades—are areas where this new group of students are focusing, and she said that the university is in a good position to capture this growing interest in the healthcare profession.
The growth comes not only from this national trend and the school’s news that it has secured accreditation, but also from large-scale recruitment drives.
On June 19, the school’s administrators and recruiters met with the Lansing-based Michigan Chiropractic Association for a financial support and recruitment effort. According to DeSpain, 100 percent of the attendees made a financial contribution to the University, and at the same time, the members pledged support of $107,000. Dr. DeSpain has also reported that numerous alumni and non-alumni University supporters have made donations of $12,000 or more.
