After three years of effort and commitment, the San Jose City College accreditation status has finally come back clean. This assures the two most important things to students on campus: Transferable credits and financial aid.

“This full reaffirmation decree will renew our hope and commitment to our community,” President Barbara Kavalier said. “It signals there is a new day to say who we are, what we can accomplish and how great this institution is.”

Kavalier got word from Jack Pond, vice president of Team Operations and Communication of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, that SJCC has been removed from probation and fully reaffirmed on Feb. 12.

“I think it is wonderful news for SJCC, Evergreen and the district in general,” said David Yancey, History professor and president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The fall 2012 follow-up report included exclusive statistics and specific evidence that summarizes the effort of all faculty, staff, students and administration in fulfilling the last six requirements of the commission.

Most of the work was done by the Accreditation Overview Taskforce, which was co-chaired by faculty member Celia Cruz-Johnson and Spanish Instructor Rebecca Gamez.

The whole work was collaboration between faculty, students, staff and administration, typically the Academic Senate and the Vice President of Student Affairs since 2010.

“A lot of extraordinary, great work was done by a lot of extraordinary great folks,” Yancey said. “We were successful in getting out from under the hammer that (probation and) accreditation had turned into.”

The school has received a lot of positive feedback even before the official announcement to be made in spring 2013.

“This is a different place from two years ago. The amount of engagement and commitment I observed is incredible,” said John Morton, The chair of Accreditation Evaluation Team, according to a summary of the team’s feedback, which was sent out by Kavalier to all faculty and staff on Oct. 31, one day after the team visited the college.

“I am totally delighted that this spring I will be graduated and receiving a certificate that is accredited from a fine institution,” said Associate Student President Mike Casas.

For the last two years, Casas sat on various committees and was responsible for seeing that the student involvement met its alignment to satisfy the Accreditation Committee’s expectations.

Back in 2010, after submitting the Self Study Report to the commission, the college was put on probation in spring 2011. The former Academic Senate President Chris Frazier said, “We’re failing. We’re failing seriously,” regarding the Student Learning Outcomes requirement, which “appeared to be a losing proposition.”

The tables have turned.

“No way in the world would any of the team members who were here two years ago believe that we would be where we are today. Amazing work,” Morton said.

The summary said that Morton recognized that there is still some work to be done in Humanities and Social Science but he “feels confident that (SJCC) will complete all of this. Remarkable accomplishment.”

The school is now no longer under any sanctions, and this means there will be no questions or warnings about the school’s accreditation status.

SJCC is fully accredited and supported by government funds. All the credits earned by students still can be counted and transferable to other colleges and universities.

“Without accreditation, SJCC would no longer qualify for Federal Grants or Student Financial Aid through the Federal Department of Education,” Johnson-Cruz said. “Without federal aid, we would lose 80 percent of our students.

The commission sent out  its report to all schools in February. The report has been received by the school and should be published in public.

“Having our accreditation reaffirmed can only have been possible when fueled by words like hope, aspirations, loyalty, passion and the belief that we … can overcome anything,” wrote San Jose/Evergreen Community College District Chancellor Rita Cepeda in an email Feb. 13.