Michelle Edwards, president of ACICS, fields questions during a meeting of NACIQI.
An advisory group to the U.S. Department of Education voted 11 to 1 Friday to recommend terminating federal recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
The verdict was a case of déjà vu for staff members at ACICS, a beleaguered national accreditor of mostly for-profit colleges they’ve been in this position before.
The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, or NACIQI, made the same recommendation back in 2016, citing ACICS failing to meet compliance requirements and lax oversight of several deeply flawed for-profit institutions.
The vote brings the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools a step closer to losing its authority to be a gatekeeper between colleges and billions of dollars of federal financial aid.