lenty of accreditors have come under scrutiny for failing to hold colleges — especially for-profit institutions — accountable for low rates of graduation and high rates of student-loan default. But none has felt more heat than the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or Acics.
Acics allowed Corinthian Colleges Inc. to keep on operating right up until the for-profit college chain collapsed after evidence emerged that its campuses had lured thousands of needy students into predatory loans. The accreditor placed a Corinthian campus on its"honor roll" just months before the U.S. Education Department forced the college to shut down.
Acics, which oversees hundreds of for-profit institutions, is now the target of twogovernment investigations. A ProPublica analysis also found that colleges overseen by Acics had the lowest graduation rates among those of any accreditor.
So who are the people behind the beleaguered accreditor? They include executives at some of the most scandal-plagued colleges in the country.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Whos-Regulating-Troubled/235498