WASC Senior College and University Commission

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
462847593
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Alameda, CA, USA
Phone
5107489001
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,946,041
Expenses
$8,959,350
Assets
$11,437,071
Liabilities
$2,444,114

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

38 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jamienne Studley (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jamienne Studley (President): $571,219 total reported compensation
  • Christopher Oberg (Executive VP): $379,616 total reported compensation
  • Stephanie Huie (VP): $280,205 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

WSCUC strives to advance quality and success for all students across a range of higher education institutions and missions to foster inquiry, innovation, excellence, and sustainability through its dual responsibilities as an accreditor for accountability and continuous improvement.

What it reported doing in 2024

Accreditation Reviews: To assure satisfaction of standards and foster continuous improvement, WSCUC conducts highly structured institutional reviews, including Reaffirmation, Special, and Seeking Accreditation Visits, as well as specialized monitoring and change processes. More than 300 expert peer review volunteers from member institutions dedicate their time to support these core activities according to the Standards and Criteria for Review. To support these efforts, WSCUC develops standards, policies, and guidance to establish expectations and promote best practices, and selects and prepares peer reviewers and teams. WSCUC also develops extensive data on student outcomes and peer benchmarking, including postgraduation economic outcomes data, through the public Key Indicators Dashboard (KID) and other resources. These tools help institutions and reviewers understand and enhance student success and institutional performance.WSCUC is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to certify quality and institutional eligibility for federal funding, including student access to federal Title IV financial aid. Visit wscuc.org.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.1%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.28; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.6% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $571K · 38 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $886K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.
  • Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.