College accreditors are facing scrutiny on yet another front in Washington.
As the Obama administration announces a set of executive actions and proposed legislative steps to toughen its oversight of the agencies, a U.S. Senate investigative committee has opened a sweeping inquiry into higher education accreditation, and lawmakers have started requesting records of individual accrediting agencies, according to several people familiar with the review.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is “reviewing the role that accreditors play in assessing the quality and financial health of postsecondary institutions and programs,” according to a letter from lawmakers on the panel that was obtained by Inside Higher Ed.
The letter, dated Nov. 3, seeks a wide range of documents from the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, one of the largest national accrediting agencies, which has been controversial because it accredited the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges up until the for-profit college chain collapsed.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/06/senate-investigative-panel-opens-inquiry-about-college-accreditors