A large for-profit college chain fails in first attempt to find a new accreditor, potentially raising the stakes for the Trump administration’s review of ACICS, its current agency.
The biggest chain of for-profit colleges that is still overseen by an accreditation group axed by the Obama administration — and given a second chance by Betsy DeVos — failed this month in its initial bid to get recognition elsewhere.
Virginia College, which operates campuses across 11 states, has already said it will appeal the decision from the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training. The ruling appears to raise the stakes for the Trump administration’s latest review of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, the chain’s current accreditor and a focal point in the fight over accountability in the for-profit sector.
ACICS oversaw Corinthian Colleges, which collapsed in 2015, and ITT Tech, which closed its campuses in 2016. The Department of Education responded by withdrawing federal recognition from the organization in the final months of the Obama administration, setting off an exodus of colleges — most of them for-profits — that sought approval from other accreditors so they could maintain access to federal financial aid funds.