Students take notes during a solar panel installation course at City College of San Francisco March 26, 2009 in San Francisco, California. As President Barack Obama focuses more on the environment and the creation of green jobs in solar and wind energy, schools are seeing increased interest in courses in solar panel installation. City College of San Francisco did not have enough space to accommodate all applicants for the entry level course this semester. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Students at City College of San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP/BCN) — The agency that certifies two-year colleges in the western United States told City College of San Francisco on Wednesday that the school will lose its accreditation a year from now, a move that could lead to the closure of one of the nation’s largest institutions of higher learning.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice Harris said the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) notified City College officials of its verdict in a letter that did not give an explanation for the decision. But ACCJC chair Sherrill Amador released a statement that read: “While many college personnel have worked hard to correct deficiencies, CCSF would need more time and more cohesive institutional-wide effort to fully comply with accreditation requirements.”

The embattled public college, which enrolls 85,000 full- and part-time students on nine campuses and two centers, was placed last year on the commission’s “show-cause” list, the agency’s most severe disciplinary sanction. The commission had faulted the school for deficiencies in 14 areas, including financial management, library services, student achievement monitoring and planning, and ordered officials to demonstrate improvement by mid-March.

At its semi-annual meeting last month, the ACCJC determined that City College had fully addressed just two of the 14 recommendations made by the commission.

Harris said Wednesday’s development was serious and as a result, he was asking state officials to appoint a special trustee with authority to make decisions that now fall to the school’s Board of Trustees because “the college does not have the luxury of time and a special trustee offers the only hope… until (City College) is back on its feet.”

Accreditation is seal of approval education institutions receive so consumers and government officials know they are meeting certain performance standards. Not being accredited would make City College ineligible for federal and state funding and its students ineligible for public financial aid.