The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Tuesday lifted the University of Southern Mississippi's probation.

The university was placed on a one-year probation last December because of poor assessment of distance learning programs. Changes were made, but USM still maintained its full accreditation.

"The efforts of the faculty, I think, speak highly of the quality of the faculty here at USM and for their dedication to their students and to the institution, of course," said Dr. William Powell, President of the Faculty Senate.

"For students it means what's always been true. Our degree has always been accredited. This is a reassurance of the fact that their degrees were something in the real world. In fact, it's worth more than most any other degree because we have an accreditation from SACS that means a lot. We're thankful for the hard work of the administration to make sure that our degrees continue to hold value in the marketplace," said SGA President Jonathan Krebs.

Officials say Southern Miss has continued to work on its next regularly scheduled 10-year accreditation assessment. A campus visit is set for April 2006.