Substantive Change Submission Form

Substantive Change Submission Form

This form is to be used by professional optometric degree programs holding an accreditation status. Please submit a separate form for each change.
The "Substantive Changes" Policy and Procedure is in the

ACOE Policy and Procedure Manual.

Please reference the Glossary for any italicized terms.
The ACOE defines a substantive change as follows: new policies or practices that relate to the program holding an accreditation status that affect:
- the program’s mission, goals, and objectives;
- the organizational relationship of the program, school, or college with the parent institution;
- the scope, length, content, and/or mode of delivery of the program, including whether the change applies to all students in a cohort, a subset of students in a cohort, or to a new cohort being separately defined;
- the ownership of the parent institution that may result in changes to the program;
- program leadership; and/or
- resources available to the program needed to fulfill its mission, goals, and objectives.
The following is a list of examples of items that may be substantive changes
- Changes to the program’s mission and goals
- Plans for joint delivery of a program
- Changes in program length
- Curricular redesign and/or significant revisions
- Use of distance education that represents a substantial portion of the curriculum (operationally defined as 25% or more of the credit hours of the accredited curriculum).
- Material change in resources supporting the generation of scholarly activity, which may include research
- Adverse action taken by a regulatory body related to research-related requirements
- An affiliation, merger, or acquisition between the parent institution and another institution
- Appointment of a new chief executive officer and/or chief academic officer
- Substantial change in financial resources including changes in any of revenues or expenses of 5% or more from the prior academic year
- Increases or decreases in faculty FTE of 5% or more from the prior academic year
- Changes to faculty governance structure
- Increases or decreases in student enrollment of 5% or more from the prior academic year
- The institution of a process to award transfer credit for the purpose of providing international students with advanced standing
- Material changes in facilities, equipment, resources
- Addition or reduction of clinical facilities operated by the program
- Addition or deletion of clinical services
- A change in the controlling interest of any affiliated clinical site (does not include externship sites)
Program Name
Enter the name of the program.
Contact Information

Please provide your contact information
Name

TitleFirst NameLast Name
Email
example@example.com

Please specify the type of change you are submitting

Contemplated Change

Contemplated substantive changes must be submitted to the ACOE for approval prior to implementation. If the contemplated substantive change relates to distance education, be prepared to provide evidence of authorization from the program's USDE-recognized institutional accrediting agency.
Provide a brief summary of the contemplated change
You'll be given the opportunity to upload a more detailed narrative, if needed.
What is the planned date of implementation of the change?
I attest that I have investigated and confirmed whether and what actions I need to take associated with any regulatory and/or institutional accrediting body requirements related to the proposed change.
If actions are required to adhere to regulatory and/or institutional accrediting body requirements, please specify.
You'll be given the opportunity to upload a more detailed narrative, if needed.
For each Standard area, provide a narrative as to how the change impacts program’s compliance with the Standards and explain how the program plans to remain in compliance with each Standard area.

Be sure to review the 2025 Professional Optometric Degree Program Standards
The 2025 Professional Optometric Degree Program Standards are available on the ACOE website.

Please reference the Glossary for any italicized terms.
Standard I
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard II
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 2.1, 2.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard III
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 3.1, 3.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard IV
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 4.1, 4.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard V
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 5.1, 5.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard VI
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 6.1, 6.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard VII
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 7.1, 7.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard VIII
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 8.1, 8.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping respond with "no impact."
Documentation

Please provide any relevant documentation associated with your change request
Please upload information you wish to be taken into consideration in the ACOE's evaluation of your substantive change request.

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Please provide any additional comments that you believe will be helpful to the Council when reviewing your submission.

Non-Contemplated Change

Non-Contemplated substantive changes are those that were not planned or are not within the control of the program
Provide a brief summary of the non-contemplated change
You'll be given the opportunity to upload a more detailed narrative, if needed.
What is the date the non-contemplated change occurred?
I attest that I have investigated and confirmed whether and what actions I need to take associated with any regulatory and/or institutional accrediting body requirements related to the change.
If actions are required to adhere to regulatory and/or institutional accrediting body requirements, please specify.
You'll be given the opportunity to upload a more detailed narrative, if needed.
For each Standard area, provide a narrative as to how the change impacts program’s compliance with the Standards and explain how the program plans to remain in compliance with each Standard area.

Be sure to review the 2025 Professional Optometric Degree Program Standards
The 2025 Professional Optometric Degree Program Standards are available on the ACOE website.

Please reference the Glossary for any italicized terms.
Standard I
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard II
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 2.1, 2.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard III
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 3.1, 3.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard IV
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 4.1, 4.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard V
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 5.1, 5.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard VI
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 6.1, 6.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard VII
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 7.1, 7.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping, respond with "no impact."
Standard VIII
Specify applicable Standards (e.g., 8.1, 8.2, etc.) in your response. If the change will not impact any Standards within this grouping respond with "no impact."
Documentation

Please provide any relevant documentation associated with your change notification.
Please upload information you wish to be taken into consideration in the ACOE's evaluation of your substantive change notification.

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Please provide any additional comments that you believe will be helpful to the Council when reviewing your submission.

Leadership Change

Leadership changes are those associated with the chief executive and the chief academic officer positions and include the appointment of individuals to these positions in both interim and permanent capacities.
Provide a brief summary of the leadership change
You'll be given the opportunity to upload a more detailed narrative, if needed.
On what is date is or will the change be effective?
The 2025 Professional Optometric Degree Program Standards are available on the ACOE website.

Please reference the Glossary for any italicized terms.
Standard IV - Please review Standards 4.4-4.6 and discuss how your program remains in compliance with these Standards
Please provide comments on any other Standards that might be impacted by this change
Please upload applicable curricula vitae and any other information you wish to be taken into consideration in the ACOE's evaluation of your substantive change notification.

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Please provide any additional comments that you believe will be helpful to the Council when reviewing your submission.

Merger/Acquisition/Change in Ownership

The Council acknowledges that some anticipated substantive changes involving merger/acquisition activity and/or other ownership changes between institutions or entities can be highly complex in nature. The Council expects programs to notify the ACOE at least one (1) year prior to the merger/acquisition taking effect, when possible, regardless of whether the program is able to articulate anticipated changes to the program.
When the contemplated substantive change relates to merger/acquisition activity and/ or ownership changes affecting the parent institution, the program’s notification to the ACOE will minimally include:
- the anticipated effective date of the change;
- the names and addresses of the institutions involved in the merger/acquisition, as appropriate, and whether any name changes are expected as a result;
- the status of the institutional accrediting body’s review and approval;
- the status of the degree granting authority(ies) review and approval;
- the plans for continuity of the ACOE-accredited program at each institution, as applicable.
If you know the date the change is anticipated to be in effect, please provide.
Enter 'NA' if the date is unknown
Please provide the names and addresses of the institutions involved in the merger/acquisition, as appropriate, and whether any name changes are expected as a result.
Please provide the status of the institutional accrediting body’s review and approval.
Please provide the status of the degree granting authority(ies) review and approval.
Please discuss the plans for continuity of the ACOE-accredited program at each institution, if each institution operates an ACOE-accredited program.
Please upload any other information you wish to be taken into consideration in the ACOE's evaluation of your substantive change notification.

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Please provide any additional comments that you believe will be helpful to the Council when reviewing your submission.

Next Steps

A member of the ACOE staff will be in touch to acknowledge receipt of your substantive change submission and share the next steps. Feel free to contact the ACOE with any questions at accredit@theacoe.org. Thank you for your submission.
Should be Empty:

Substantive Change Submission Form

Program Name

Contact Information

Contemplated Change

For each Standard area, provide a narrative as to how the change impacts program’s compliance with the Standards and explain how the program plans to remain in compliance with each Standard area.

Documentation

Non-Contemplated Change

For each Standard area, provide a narrative as to how the change impacts program’s compliance with the Standards and explain how the program plans to remain in compliance with each Standard area.

Documentation

Leadership Change

Merger/Acquisition/Change in Ownership

Next Steps