Education Department Strips ACICS of College Accreditation Powers

The Department of Education Washington on July 22, 2019. Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Education said it has terminated Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) as a nationally recognized college accreditor, capping the agency’s long-running battle with the federal government to retain its accrediting powers.

Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten on Aug. 19 issued a final decision to deny an appeal by ACICS to retain its federal status as an accrediting agency.

Marten’s decision means that the two dozen or so schools approved by ACICS have to find a new accrediting agency or lose access to federal financial aid.

“Her decision is considered final and officially starts an 18-month period for schools currently accredited by ACICS to find another accreditor to continue offering federal student grants, loans, or work-study funds,” the Education Department said in a statement.

ACICS said it was “disappointed” with the decision, which the agency called “deeply flawed.”

“We believe it is deeply flawed and that ACICS has been in substantial compliance with any objective, consistent, and reasonable interpretation of the recognition criteria,” ACICS said in a statement, adding that it’s considering whether to appeal in federal court.

In her decision (pdf), Marten said that “despite its best efforts to improve its operations,” ACICS had failed to comply with a range of criteria for accreditors.

Marten said that the review leading up to termination was carried out properly and was not procedurally deficient, insisting that ACICS has received a “full and fair hearing on its petition for recognition.”

The federal government doesn’t accredit colleges directly but relies on accrediting agencies to do vetting and issue approvals.

ACICS, which was founded in 1912 and was once one of the biggest college accreditors in the country, currently accredits 27 institutions with some 5,000 students.

It accredited ITT Technical Institute and dozens of schools operated by Corinthian Colleges, both institutions that were shut down several years ago, at significant cost to taxpayers.

Federal authorities recently forgave over $10 billion in student debt for ITT and Corinthian students.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement that ACICS accredited “predatory” for-profit colleges like Corinthian, which he said targeted low-income California students with false advertising and “saddled them with debt.”

Marten’s decision caps a years-long process that began in 2016, when the Department of Education first stopped recognizing ACICS, prompting a lawsuit.

In 2018, then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos reinstated ACICS after a federal judge ordered the Education Department to consider new evidence.

A staff report carried out by the Education Department and released in January 2021 recommended that the department revoke the recognition, prompting ACICS to appeal, with Marten’s decision bringing that process to an end.

Marten’s decision was hailed by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

“ACICS has repeatedly showed that it is not a reliable authority on educational quality, which is why the Obama Admin rescinded its authority in 2016. I commend @usedgov for today’s decision to terminate ACICS’ federal recognition once again,” Durbin said in a statement.