Starting Wednesday, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an oversight body, will meet to determine whether a major college accreditor will lose recognition as a gatekeeper of federal student aid dollars.
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) is on the committee's hit list after allowing taxpayer money to go to several floundering institutions of higher education, including ITT Educational Services and the now-bankrupt Corinthian Colleges.
These high-profile failures on ACICS' part have made national headlines, and everyone from the Department of Education to the attorneys general of 13 states wants the accreditor's head. But the federal government should not simply shut ACICS down and declare victory. The problems with government involvement in higher education run much deeper than a single accreditor.
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