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For Ave Maria University, nearly $60 million in tax-free financing for its new 750-acre campus in Collier County has depended on the oh-so-elusive definition of one word: Accredited.

The Collier County Educational Facilities Authority, a little-known government body that allows private colleges access to the municipal bond market, has approved three separate bond issues for the university.

The bonds, including a recently authorized $17 million series, are paying for university dorms and Ave Maria town housing for faculty members.

State law allows counties to help local private colleges pay for construction by substantially lowering the school’s cost to borrow money. Bonds issued through county authorities are tax-free, like other government bonds, but are debts of the college, not the county government.

The law restricts colleges eligible for these benefits to institutions that are “accredited.”

So is Ave Maria University accredited?

The Educational Facilities Authority says so. All three resolutions authorizing the bond issues state Ave Maria is, “an accredited nonprofit institution of higher education.”

“I think it was the correct decision,” said Donald Pickworth, attorney for the Collier Educational Facilities Authority, citing a state license indicating the school had been accredited.

But the history of Ave Maria’s accreditation, which is a significant benchmark for a university’s legitimacy, is long and complicated.

In the world of higher education, standard bearers for accreditation are six regional organizations.

For the Southeastern U.S., the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) has jurisdiction and has accredited local schools, such as Florida Gulf Coast University, Hodges University and Edison College.

Ave Maria officials have said repeatedly that SACS accreditation is the school’s primary goal.

Ave Maria has submitted two accreditation applications to the agency, most recently in June 2007. The school pulled the previous application in 2004 because it wanted to add academic programs, something a school cannot do once SACS begins its evaluation, according to Ave Maria spokesman Branden Blackmur.

Ave Maria has yet to receive formal recognition from SACS.

Another accrediting agency has given the university its blessing.

In November 2004, the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE), a small, national organization, gave Ave Maria “pre-accreditation” status, which allowed the school access to federal financial aid. Ave Maria was pre-accredited until this June when it earned the agency’s full accreditation.

The more recent AALE recognition came after the current educational facilities bond issue already was in the county’s pipeline.

In applications to the county authority in 2006 and 2007, the school said it had resubmitted an application to SACS.

However, though the school planned to resubmit to SACS in fall 2006, it never did, Blackmur said.

There’s no mention of accreditation in Ave Maria’s 2008 application to the county. Bond closing statements from 2006 and 2007 refer to the school as “provisionally accredited.”

Paul Roney, Ave Maria’s chief financial officer, said the university met the standard outlined in the law.

“I’m not legal counsel, but legal counsel opines on the transaction,” Roney said. “We have a license from the state of Florida, which the university was required to provide to bond counsel and they were aware of the accreditation status as well. I’m very confident that that met the criteria.”

Ave Maria officials haven’t always maintained that the school was “accredited.”

In October 2006, Ave Maria’s then-provost the Rev. Joseph Fessio called the school “small and unaccredited” in a fundraising letter.

In December 2007, University Chancellor Tom Monaghan addressed the school’s attractiveness to prospective students by saying, “Until we get accreditation, some of these people just won’t look at us.”

In April 2008, Ave Maria Director of Admissions Michael Williams said transparency about the school’s accreditation was vital.

“If a kid comes to this school and doesn’t know that we’re not accredited in the fall, that would be one of the worst things,” Williams said.

State law isn’t helpful in providing a clear interpretation of “accredited.”

There’s no definition in state law establishing county educational facility authorities.

A spokeswoman for Florida’s Office of the Attorney General said the office hasn’t issued an opinion on the word’s meaning. A review of state appellate court decisions didn’t reveal a definition, either.

Previously, the only other institution to receive Collier educational facilities financing was Hodges University, formerly known as International College.

Hodges received $19.24 million in financing after two bond issues, the first coming in 1999, said John White, Hodges’ executive vice president of finance. SACS accredited the school in 1998.

More recently, the state passed a new law establishing a state higher educational facilities authority. The state authority functions similar to county agencies, but allows those private colleges in counties without educational facilities authorities to have access to tax-free financing, according to Benjamin Donatelli, secretary-treasurer of the state agency.

In the law establishing the state authority, the word “accredited” is defined. It means accredited by SACS.

“With Ave Maria we might have said, ‘Nice try,’ but we couldn’t have helped them unless they got SACS accreditation,” Donatelli said.

Pickworth, the county agency’s attorney, said the difference between the two laws showed that legislators intended to give counties more leeway to determine eligibility.

Regarding Ave Maria’s AALE recognition, Pickworth said insisting on full accreditation would have harmed the authority’s ability to pay for construction vital to establishing a new school.

“A distinction between pre-accreditation and accreditation would basically say the (educational facilities authority) couldn’t fund an institution until it was a certain number of years old,” Pickworth said. “And that would seem contrary to the purpose.”