Accreditation

Colleges have won their battle with the Bush administration over accreditation reform. After two years of being chastised and pressured to better report on student learning, and then being threatened with new federal accreditation regulations, colleges turned to their longtime allies in Congress and found support. The Higher Education Act reauthorization bills, as passed by the Senate and the House, would prevent the Department of Education from issuing regulations on the accreditation process.

[slideshow] But while this is a victory for colleges, they would be wrong to think that the college quality issue has been put to rest. The heart of the matter—meaningful accountability for higher education institutions who receive billions of dollars in federal money—still has yet to be addressed. While the Bush administration failed to pursue a politically viable process for reform, the need for stronger accountability still remains highly visible to many members of Congress, and likely future members of the next Department of Education.

Where Spellings and Bush Went Wrong

The House version of legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act contains language that proposes to change how student loan defaults are calculated, a move that could have serious implications for schools and students’ access to federal student aid. This is a welcome change to the current shaky three-part system of accountability that fails to provide good information about the absolute and relative quality of a school’s education.

The Current System

The absence of national examinations leaves only three things with enough teeth to effectively judge colleges that are not meeting desired standards for higher education: (1) accreditation, (2) licensure, and (3) loan defaults. Failure to meet these requirements can cause the school to lose the ability to receive federal funds — meaning all its students will be denied Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, and other forms of aid. Unfortunately, these measures do little more than guard against diploma mills or fake schools, indicating nothing about the quality of an individual institution.

Last week, Higher Ed Watch questioned why Education Secretary Margaret Spellings had granted the accrediting arm of the American Bar Association (ABA) continued recognition as the sole Education Department-approved law school accreditor. We had hoped that she would take tougher action against an entity that has bucked compliance with federal standards for over a…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

After walking a tightrope for more than a decade, the only entity in the nation that accredits law schools, an arm of the American Bar Association (ABA), has avoided a fall once again-thanks in part to the fortuitous timing of an unrelated accreditation issue between Congress and the Education Department.

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

For the past decade, the accrediting arm of the American Bar Association (ABA) has withstood criticism that its standards are poorly monitored and unrelated to law school quality. But the ABA's endurance as the sole Education Department-approved law school accreditor, despite refusal to reform, could soon be in jeopardy. And…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

Higher-Education Segregation Lawsuit in Alabama Nears Settlement

A 25-year old lawsuit against the state of Alabama involving segregation in the state's higher education system could end in a month, according to the plaintiffs' attorney. A federal judge has…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.

Early Admissions "Loophole" for Athletes

Schools that have recently eliminated the early admissions process, such as Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia, still have an early admissions "loophole" in place…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.