Emma Vadehra, chief of staff to Education Secretary John King Jr., chose to withdraw the department’s recognition of Washington-based Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools (ACICS), which oversaw schools owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc. and ITT Educational Services Inc., following earlier recommendations from department staff and an outside group that advises the department on accreditation issues.
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Find out if your school is accredited by ACICS here.
“ACICS’s track record does not inspire confidence”, wrote Education Department Chief of Staff Emma Vadehra in a letter to the agency’s chief executive today. What will happen to the 600,000 students attending any of the 245 schools that ACICS has accredited?
The ACICS has appealed the U.S. Department of Education’s decision.
In the Education Department letter, Vadehra pushed back on that sentiment.
Last month, ACICS voted to impose no negative sanctions against NPU, despite the fact that a source close to the accreditor said the school had admitted to numerous allegations in the BuzzFeed story.
Among other issues, federal staff has said the ACICS still needs to address how graduates of the programs it accredits fare on licensing exams.
U.S. Department of Education decision follows a federal advisory board recommendation to terminate ACICS’ recognition. Colleges overseen by ACICS took in $4.76 billion in financial aid funds last year, according to Department figures released earlier this year. There is no deadline for King to make a decision. “All of this is contingent on council action”.
If ACICS does not win its appeal, its schools will have 18 months to get approved by a different accreditor. During that appearance, the schools would have the opportunity to defend themselves.
The Center for American Progress, a Washington policy organization with close ties to the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, declared in June that students who attend ACICS-accredited schools have the worst outcomes of any group of students who attend schools overseen by a major accreditation agency, when measured by their graduation, loan repayment, and loan default rates.
Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the state’s Community and Technical College System, was out of the office Thursday, Kennedy said. I commend the Department of Education for today’s decision to terminate ACICS’ federal recognition. While the appeal is being considered, the group will retain its recognition from the department.
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“While we are disappointed in this decision, ACICS plans to continue diligent efforts to renew and strengthen its policies and practices necessary to demonstrate this agency’s determination to come into full compliance with the Department of Education’s recognition criteria and, most importantly, to improve outcomes for the estimated 600,000 students now attending ACICS-accredited institutions”, Roger Williams, ACICS’ interim president, said in a statement. “Hundreds of colleges will be forced to scramble to find a new accreditor so students don’t lose their aid and everything they’ve been working toward”.
