Accreditor demands teach-out plan from Paul Smith’s College

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has demanded that Paul Smith’s College submit a teach-out plan, The Adirondack Explorer reported.

The accreditor indicated that it could not at this time approve a deal for Paul Smith’s to be purchased by the Fedcap Group, which works to provide job training to low-income students, among other things.

A teach-out plan is a deal for use when a college closes for its students to be educated elsewhere.

The college said the reason its accreditor demanded the teach-out plan was not because of any problems with the Fedcap deal, which it said would go through.

“As a result of a recent cyberattack, federal regulations require us to develop a ‘teach-out’ plan as merely a precautionary measure,” said Nicole Feml, the college’s chief of staff. “The teach-out plan has no relevance or relationship to our financial planning, enrollment targets or partnership with Fedcap.”