Curriculum Planning for New Schools—
Built to Pass State and Accreditor Review on the First Submission

Start by benchmarking the labor market in your service area, the programs your state agency has approved most often in the last three years, and the credential gaps your competitors aren't filling. For most new colleges, we recommend launching with 2–4 programs that share faculty and core courses (e.g., a business associate, a business bachelor's, and a related certificate). Expert Education Consultants conducts this benchmarking as part of every curriculum planning for new school engagement and delivers a launch portfolio recommendation backed by data.

New program approval typically requires a formal application to your state regulatory agency (and to your accreditor if you're already accredited). The application must include the program rationale, full curriculum (syllabi, outcomes, credit-hour calculations), faculty qualifications, library and learning resources, assessment plan, and financial projections. Our new program approval consulting walks you through every document and submits the package on your behalf. Most state-level new program approvals take 60–120 days once the application is filed.

At a minimum: grading and grade-point policy, attendance and participation policy, satisfactory academic progress (SAP), transfer credit policy, withdrawal and refund policy, academic integrity policy, student grievance and complaint procedure, FERPA policy, and a leave-of-absence policy. Most states also require a published academic calendar, an admissions policy, and a graduation requirements policy. Our academic policies and procedures development service drafts all of these to match your state's specific language requirements and integrates them into your catalog and student handbook.

Typically 6–10 weeks for a complete degree program (program structure + all syllabi + outcome maps + assessment plan + catalog content). Certificate programs are faster — usually 3–4 weeks. We can run multiple programs in parallel if your timeline is tight, which is how we've delivered launch-ready curricula in as little as four months for the fastest university launches.

It depends on the number of programs, number of courses per program, and complexity (a nursing program with clinical components costs more than a general business degree). Expert Education Consultants provides transparent, itemized pricing after the initial assessment. For many clients, curriculum development is included as part of the full licensing engagement.

Both. Our core curriculum development services deliver program structures, syllabi, and all documentation needed for state and accreditor review. If you also need fully developed course content (lecture videos, slide decks, test banks, LMS-ready files), that's our E-Courseware product — available as ready-made packages or custom-built to your specifications.

Yes. We've designed 1,000+ academic programs for 115+ institutions and have zero curriculum rejections in our history. Every program we design is benchmarked against the specific requirements of your target state's regulatory agency. We don't submit applications until the curriculum is complete and compliant.

Yes. We regularly help licensed institutions update existing programs to meet new accreditation standards, add learning outcome maps, fix credit-hour calculations, or modernize course content. We start with a gap analysis of your current curriculum against your state and accreditor requirements.

Yes. All custom curriculum developed for your institution belongs to you. Syllabi, outcome maps, assessment plans, and catalog content are yours to use, modify, and build upon. E-Courseware packages are licensed separately — see E-Courseware terms for details.

We start with a discovery phase where we analyze your target state's specific licensing requirements and benchmark against comparable approved programs. From there, our curriculum development consultants design the full program architecture, write every syllabus, map learning outcomes, build credit-hour calculations, and produce submission-ready documentation. The process typically takes 6–12 weeks depending on the number of programs, and we handle the full integration into your state application package.