House to Address HE Spending Bills

2019 CHEA Summer Roundtable: Accreditation and Federal Policy June 20, 2019 - Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill-Washington, DC

Accreditation and Federal Policy is a one-day roundtable focusing on the latest federal policy developments affecting higher education accreditation. The roundtable is open to CHEA member institutions and CHEA- and U.S. Department of Education-recognized accrediting organizations.  Speakers will include Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment; Diane Auer Jones, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education; Mary Barry, Policy Advisory to Senator Patty Murray, Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee; Katherine Valle, Senior Policy Advisory to Congressman Bobby Scott, Chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor; and a senior minority staff member of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Click here for more information, including a registration form and link to the conference hotel for reservations.

HEADLINES

It’s ‘Minibus’ Week (Politico “Morning Education” [after opening link, scroll down to see item], June 10, 2019) “The House is gearing up to vote on a partisan ‘minibus,’ a package of spending bills that includes the Labor-HHS-Education title, H.R. 2740 (116). A measure by Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) would prevent DeVos from reinstating an accreditation agency’s credentials “after they have been found to repeatedly accredit proprietary institutions that have defrauded students” – likely a swipe at DeVos’ move in November to give the controversial Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools another year to come into compliance with two federal standards the Trump administration said it failed to meet.”

New Tool From Accreditor on Health of Colleges (Inside Higher Ed, June 10, 2019) “The New England Commission on Higher Education, a regional accreditor, last week announced plans to create a tool to gauge the financial health of colleges.”

Senate Negotiators Slog Through Higher Education Act Updates (U.S. News and World Report, June 6, 2019) “Don't expect to see a draft anytime soon of the Higher Education Act rewrite that Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray have been negotiating for the last three months.”

Hampshire College ‘In Danger’ of Having Accreditation Withdrawn (Daily Hampshire Gazette, June 7, 2019) “New England’s regional accreditation body for higher education has voted to issue a public notation that Hampshire College is ‘in danger’ of being found in violation of the agency’s standards, though the agency has deferred formal judgment on the school’s status until November. The announcement was made June 7 in a joint press release from Hampshire College and the New England Commission of Higher Education.”

Bolstering the Public Voice in Accreditation (Center for American Progress, June 6, 2019) “Accreditation agencies need to include more truly independent members among their commissioners.”

How a Troubled Accreditor’s Search for Members Is Raising New Questions About Its Integrity (The Chronicle of Higher Education [subscription required], June 5, 2019) “The exodus, along with the sudden closure last year of dozens of campuses owned by one member, the Education Corporation of America, has left ACICS in a financial pit. The organization expects to lose $2 million this year and may not be back in the black for several years, according to news accounts of comments by Michelle Edwards, the council’s president. She spoke this week to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or CHEA, a membership association of some 3,000 colleges that has its own recognition process for accreditors.”