COEUR d’ALENE — Administration has improved at the College of North Idaho, according to a new report, but accreditation officials warn those improvements won’t last.

A team from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities conducted a site visit at NIC on Oct. 14 and 15 and produced a 14-page peer review report that the college made public Thursday afternoon.

Read the full report at cdapress.com.

The site visit was the last before NIC’s deadline to return to good standing. Since the beginning of last year, NIC has been operating under show cause sanction, the final step before loss of accreditation. Federal regulations stipulate that the college has until April 1, 2025, to resolve the remaining issues identified by the accrediting agency, most of which involve college administration and trustee conduct.

Evaluators said they heard many compliments about board chairman Mike Wagoner’s “respectful and professional” leadership. Wagoner “appeared to have internalized his private (Association of Community College Trustees) training, and the results helped NIC improve,” the report said.

While the tenor of board meetings has become more professional and respectful in recent months, assessors said they were presented with recent examples of “negative and unproductive” interactions between NIC Chairman Nick Swayne and individual trustees.

“Despite past experiences, the president has been candid in establishing positive relationships with the chairman and other board members, as well as ACCT advisors,” the report said. “Even so, building a truly unified, mutually supportive presidency and board-wide relationship remains a work in progress, and the effort will require more time and respectful, authentic communication.”

Overall, evaluators found evidence of improvements in governance at the NIC, but the sustainability of the positive changes remains to be seen.

“First, their history is too short – perhaps a few months at best – to provide convincing assurance that the changes are permanent, especially given the more than two years that have elapsed since the NWCCU’s initial sanctions,” the report said. . “Furthermore, in interviews on the ground, no one expressed a high level of confidence in the sustainability of the board’s current course.”

Assessors also highlighted the budgetary risk to the NIC.

Although the NIC had mitigated the “financial impacts of litigation, governance and accreditation issues resulting from the board’s actions in recent years,” evaluators noted that the university’s return to the National Junior College Athletic Association and associated costs were a financial issue.

The board’s 3-2 decision to change athletic conferences and cover all student-athlete expenses “imposes a multimillion-dollar burden on NIC’s budget and a significant hidden tax on NIC’s academic and student support services,” the report said.

NIC’s athletics budget increased from approximately $2.2 million to approximately $6 million. This includes $1.6 million to cover tuition, room and board, books and round-trip airfare for all student-athletes playing sports affiliated with the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

The NIC is expected to spend just $1.3 million on tuition and fees for student-athletes in fiscal year 2025.

“NIC’s current budget model, which centers athletics, continues to pose a risk to the university and is not sustainable from a governance, financial and personnel perspective,” the report said.

Faculty noted that “demand for online, hybrid, or athlete-focused course scheduling has increased to compensate for class absences due to increased travel, presenting a particularly difficult challenge for applied courses such as laboratory sciences.”

Staff and faculty also “mix in” to provide adequate academic support services to meet students’ needs.

“Services needed, particularly for international hires, include language assistance, legal travel support (visa, passport, basic transportation), personal care needs, weekend and holiday accommodation/meals, and general community connection. “These efforts come with associated costs, none of which are factored into the athletics budget or faculty/staff workload,” he said.

Evaluators said a budget model adjustment could ensure sustainability by restructuring a “practical, long-term athletics budget,” with annual capital reserve funds used to fill the gap in athletics funding and address roster changes.

“Ideally, the study could reengage faculty and staff in ways that honor their expertise and professionalism, thereby rebuilding trust and returning the collective focus to NIC’s mission,” the report said.

In January, NIC representatives will appear before the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities in Seattle. Here, accreditation officers will meet to decide on the NIC’s status.