What’s next for colleges accredited by ACICS?
Natalie Schwartz
September 1, 2022
Around two dozen colleges will have to navigate heavy restrictions that could make it harder to remain open.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was withdrawing recognition of a long-troubled accreditor of for-profit colleges. The action followed years of warnings about the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, including that it had lax standards and oversaw colleges with poor student outcomes.
But ACICS is no longer the large-scale agency it used to be. When the Education Department yanked its federal recognition, ACICS only oversaw about two dozen colleges that together had about 5,000 students. That’s compared to more than 230 institutions with some 360,000 students six years ago.
