College Accreditors Largely Staffed by Employees of Schools They Oversee
Two-thirds of the officials responsible for policing the quality of the nation's colleges and universities are employed by schools their agencies oversee, highlighting potential conflicts of interest in a system that faces reform efforts in Washington.
That is the main finding of a report Friday from the free-market research group the Manhattan Institute, which examined the employment of 332 commissioners at the 15 accrediting agencies that determine whether schools can receive federal funds. Most commissioners serve as administrators at the schools their agency accredits. One in three serve as college president.
The accrediting agencies are nongovernmental bodies made up largely of officials in higher education.
Preston Cooper, the report's author, says the connections raise the prospect that accrediting agencies will go easy on those schools whose officials are accreditors at evaluation time. "For consumers, there are a couple of problems: It can mean higher prices and lower quality," he said.
And while most accreditors require commissioners to recuse themselves from deliberations regarding their institutions, commissioners could cast a favorable vote toward a particular school with which he or she has no affiliation in exchange for a favorable vote on their school, he said.
The federal government has for decades leaned on accreditors to serve as gatekeepers for federal money, determining whether colleges and universities are meeting minimum standards of quality to have access to federal student loans and grants. Such aid, which amounted to $129 billion in the 2013-2014 academic year, first goes to students, who then spend the money at schools to cover tuition.
But as student debt has soared to $1.3 trillion and millions of borrowers default on their loans, federal policy makers have blamed accreditors for not doing more to ensure colleges' prices are in line with the quality of the education they provide.
Accreditors say much of the criticism is unfair, and fails to take into account that many schools with bad outcomes disproportionately serve the riskiest students, including single parents and those from poor households.
The report looked at accreditors of all types of schools -- nonprofit, private and for-profit. And federal data show that accredited schools with the worst outcomes, such as in graduation rates and student-loan repayment rates, are disproportionately for-profit schools and public community colleges.
just one in three full-time students entering as freshman earn a degree there within six years. Among those who take out student debt, one in five will fall into default within three years of leaving, placing Argosy among the worst schools when it comes to student debt repayment.
Cynthia Baum, Argosy's chancellor, sits on the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and Universities Commission, which accredits the school. A school spokeswoman said Ms. Baum was traveling and couldn't be reached for comment.