The United States Sports Academy has applied to its accreditor to add freshman and sophomore study to the institution’s existing renowned upper division – junior and senior year – bachelor’s degree program. For the first time in the Academy’s 48-year history, the institution will offer a full, four-year online bachelor’s degree program that would begin in the Spring 2021 semester.
Founded as a graduate school of sport in 1972, the Academy admitted its first two-year, degree completion bachelor’s degree student cohort in the Fall 2004 semester. The Academy submitted its application for four-year bachelor’s status to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) in June 2020.
If the landmark change is approved, the institution will begin admitting freshmen for a four-year Bachelor of Sport Science (B.S.S.) degree program and teaching general educational core curriculum courses in the Spring semester 2021.
“The Academy has been planning this change for some time,” said Dr. T.J. Rosandich, the Academy’s President and CEO. “As an upper-division baccalaureate program for the past 16 years, all of our undergrads have been transfer students and typically bring to the institution a very wide array of lower division courses. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for these students to have earned college credits that we cannot apply to our degree programs and so this represents wasted resources in terms of time and money on their part. But with us being able to offer the complete 120 semester hour degree, we’ll be able to better serve the students seeking a path to a career in sports.”
As America’s only freestanding sports university, the Academy has been continually accredited by SACSCOC since 1983 and was recently reaffirmed by the accreditor in 2018. The Academy’s B.S.S. degree programs also have a programmic accreditation. The B.S.S. in Sports Coaching through the National Council for the Accreditation of Coaching Education (NCACE) and the Sports Strength and Conditioning degree has been approved by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a part of their Education Recognized Partner (ERP) program. The B.S.S. in Sports Management is also a candidate for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Business School and Programs (ACBSP).
SACSCOC is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern United States. It serves as the common denominator of shared values and practices among the diverse institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Latin America and other international sites approved by the Commission.
The mission of SACSCOC is to assure the educational quality and improve the effectiveness of its member institutions. Its vision is to serve as the premier model for shaping and ensuring the quality of higher education throughout the world.
The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.
The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala. For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.
