NACIQI Votes to Deny Recognition to Accreditor and Other Accreditation-Related News

June 24, 2016

Federal Panel Votes to Shut Down an Accreditor Blamed for Failures of For-Profit Higher Ed (Chronicle of Higher Education, June 24, 2016) “In a rare vote Thursday, a federal advisory panel recommended denying recognition to the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.” (See also Inside Higher Edarticle.)

Protecting Student Borrowers (ED Review, June 24, 2016) “Accreditors have a responsibility under federal law to make sure schools earn that seal [of quality], thus making them eligible for federal student aid. Department staff recommended that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or ACICS, should no longer be recognized as an accreditor, and, at its recent spring meeting, NACIQI voted 10-3 in support of the recommendation not to re-recognize ACICS.”

Scorecard for Accreditors (Inside Higher Ed, June 21, 2016) “The Education Department has created new data reports on the performance of accrediting agencies, using measures such as graduation and loan repayment rates at colleges the agencies oversee.”

“Judith Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, which advocates for accreditation on behalf of colleges and universities, said the new reports are part of a ‘fundamental rethinking and repositioning’ of the role of accreditors as gatekeepers of federal aid.”

Three Graduation Rates For One College? The Baffling Government Policy That Could Confuse Students(Washington Post, June 21, 2016) “Look up Montgomery College on the government’s College Scorecard search engine and you’ll discover that 22 percent of students earn degrees at the community college. But according to College Navigator, another government website, just 14 percent of students at the Maryland school graduate. If that’s not confusing enough, if you type in Montgomery College on the government’s accreditation site, the graduation rate there is listed at 17 percent.” 

The For-Profit Kill Zone (Wall Street Journal [subscription required], June 22, 2016) “When it comes to for-profit colleges, the Obama Administration seems to be taking its cues from ancient Roman politics. It isn’t enough to kill the schools, you have to kill their accreditor too.”

U. of Louisville Faculty Group Aims to Thwart Governor’s Shake-Up (Chronicle of Higher Education, January 21, 2016) “The professors are concerned about the university’s leadership and whether its accreditation may be put in jeopardy.”

Uneven Sanctions by College Accreditors (Politico “Morning Education,” June 21, 2016) “Accrediting organizations are taking vastly different approaches in how they sanction underperforming colleges and universities, according to a new analysis out today from the Center for American Progress.”