Chartered Institutions | The Honored Students | The Next Step Is Easy
Standards for Membership | Application for Charter | Personal Data Sheet

Pinnacle issues charters to accredited colleges and universities which, in turn, select outstanding adult and other non-traditional seniors and "rising seniors" for recognition at the local and national level.

Pinnacle is proud of its large and diverse institutional membership list. Over 140 chartered institutions, teaching classes at over 175 sites from coast to coast, represent the full spectrum of American higher education. Some chartered institutions have recognized over 500 deserving students.

The students who have been inducted into membership in Pinnacle represent every slice of American non-traditional higher education. Working parents, single parents, retirees returning to higher education, mid-life adults starting second careers, disabled students, international students, even an occasional child prodigy.

While Pinnacle sets minimal standards for selecting students to be honored, Pinnacle permits each chartered institution to define "non-traditional" according to its local definition. This approach yields a vast array of truly non-traditional students who are honored each year all across the country. Each student selected for recognition through membership in Pinnacle will receive a lapel pin, a diploma seal, and a "suitable for framing" membership certificate.

Students selected for membership can either become part of a locally organized chapter or simply be named to the National Chapter. The locally created and registered/recognized student organizations take every imaginable form. Some are honorary societies in the strictest sense of the word, existing solely to honor their members. Others meet campus social needs, leadership needs, even activism needs on some campuses. The point is...these outstanding students use Pinnacle to meet their greatest needs.

Becoming a chartered institutional member of Pinnacle could not be much easier. Simply complete a brief "Application for Charter" and Pinnacle will send you an "Institutional Charter."

Then, as the next semester opens, you will receive in the mail a brief letter reminding you of the simple selection process, a Personal Data Sheet which you can copy for applicants to complete, and a List of Honorees upon which the names of students selected for membership can be placed. That's it! You can choose to honor students once each year or once each semester, your choice.

There is, of course, no cost to chartered institutions, and the cost to students selected for membership is a one-time fee of twenty dollars ($20), a fee which has never been increased!

And remember, Pinnacle promises never to try to sell your students biographical volumes or anything else, nor will Pinnacle sell your members' names to list brokers as all-too-many organizations do. Our goal is simple: to recognize worthy students. Period.

I. All students selected for induction in PINNACLE must meet the following criteria:

A) Qualify as adult or non-traditional students under locally-derived and maintained definitions;

B) Preferably have senior status, although exceptional juniors may be selected for membership, and graduate students may be
selected for membership in the Graduate Division;

C) Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, not necessarily including hours taken as a student of
traditional age (3.4 GPA for graduate students);

D) Have been involved in at least three (3) campus and/or community activities;

E) Demonstrate leadership, persistence, and future promise;

F) Maintain the highest ethical standards.

II. Students can only be selected for membership following a thorough screening of resumes by a campus selection committee comprised of non-traditional students, faculty, and administrators.

III. No more than fifteen percent (15%) of the adult and non-traditional student population on the campus can hold membership in PINNACLE.

IV. Induction of new members can take place no more frequently than twice per year.

V. If a campus chooses to create a local chapter of PINNACLE, the chapter must be a registered or recognized campus organization and must meet all local standards for such registration or recognition.