Call to close largest college accreditation agency
By Brendan O’Malley. The United States Department of Education has recommended that the largest national accreditation agency be stripped of its power as gatekeeper of billions of dollars of financial federal aid for independent colleges, a move that would shake up for-profit higher education. Read more...
Accreditor Puts 5 Colleges on Probation
By Ellen Wexler. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has put four small private colleges and one community college on notice, mostly due to financial problems. Read more...
Senator Urges Tough Stance on For-Profit Accreditor
By Doug Lederman. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools has a "long record of failure" as an accreditor that warrants tough action by the federal advisory panel that is set to review the agency's recognition later this month, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren says in a report being released today. Read more...
Accreditor, and Accreditation, on Trial
By Doug Lederman. When a federal panel weighs whether to keep recognizing an overseer of for-profit colleges this month, the feds and the accreditor alike will be judged on the outcome. Read more...
A Partial Accreditor Scorecard
By Doug Lederman. The U.S. Education Department is releasing this week data that it wants to use to help judge the work of accreditors, based on a set of outcomes of the institutions the agencies accredit. Some highlights of the data are in the table below. Read more...
Controversial Accreditor Freezes Membership
By Paul Fain. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools today will announce a temporary halt in accepting new applications for colleges seeking to become accredited, as well as several other changes, including requirements seeking to ensure more accuracy in self-reported data from member colleges. Read more...
Getting Tough With a Gatekeeper
By Paul Fain. Education Department staff proposes termination for ACICS, threatening access to federal aid for the 243 institutions -- many of them for-profit -- the national accreditor oversees. Read more...
Scorecard for Accreditors
By Paul Fain. 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. Read more...
Public University Group Backs Risk-Based Accreditation
By Paul Fain. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities on Wednesday said it backed an approach to the accreditation process where the agencies focus more time and energy on colleges that have problems than on those that don't. Read more...