An overview is presented of the accreditation process of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, along with a brief history of how that process has evolved. The handbook is divided into the following chapters: (1) introduction (meaning and purposes of accreditation, the evaluation of the Commission's evaluative principles, and the current mission, operations, services and personnel of the Commission); (2) affiliation with the Commission (types of affiliation, general institutional requirements, evaluative criteria, and obligations of affiliation); (3) statement of affiliation status; (4) the evaluation process (including self-study, the evaluation team, evaluation visit, reporting, and the review process); (5) ongoing monitoring called for by the Commission (reports, focused evaluations, and institutional annual reports); (6) institutional change (Commission policies and procedures that an institution must follow to seek approval of changes in its Statement of Affiliation Status); (7) sanctions (including probation, withdrawal of affiliation, reapplication and appeals); and (8) informing the public (how the affiliation of an institution is made known to the public). Seven appendices provide information on the Commission evaluation fee schedule, preliminary information form, rules of procedures, guidelines on contractual relationships, and guidelines of institutional good practice,(confidentiality, disclosure, etc.), and a list of Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA) and the regional accrediting associations is also provided as well as an index of Commission policies and a list of Commission members and staff. (KM)