In 2012 a federal panel that advises the education secretary on accreditation released a modest set of proposals to be considered in Congress’s reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
More than two years later, that same panel is discussing amending those recommendations with a set of far-reaching proposals that would change both the accreditation process and the role of the panel itself. Among the recommendations being considered are eliminating the regional boundaries that define the nation’s six major accrediting bodies and granting more authority to the panel to oversee accreditors and to develop policy.
“So much of the higher-education landscape has shifted” since 2012, said Susan D. Phillips, chairwoman of the 18-member group, called the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which met in this Washington suburb on Thursday. The panel oversees the recognition of accrediting agencies, which must be approved by the federal government in order to serve as the gatekeepers for federal student aid.
The issues of students’ costs and colleges’ accountability for their graduation rates have been thrust to the forefront by concerns in Congress and the White House’s proposed rating system for colleges, said Ms. Phillips, who is vice president for strategic partnerships at the State University of New York at Albany and senior vice president for academic affairs at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
In June the group also heard concerns from colleges and accrediting agencies that the process had become burdened by a growing list of federal regulations and the perception that the panel had lost its independence by relying too heavily on the recommendations of Education Department staff members, who provide detailed reports on the agencies applying for recognition.
What Congress Will Do
In addition to the recommendation to make all accreditors national in scope, the panel discussed proposals to allow new kinds of accrediting organizations, using a risk-adjusted approach to accreditation (high-quality, low-risk institutions would have to meet fewer accrediting requirements) or requiring colleges to provide audited data on measures of access, cost, and student success.
Those changes caught many of the panel’s members off guard. After a summary of the suggestions was read aloud, panel members sat in silence for nearly a minute.
“These recommendations silenced the group because they were bold,” said Roberta Derlin, associate provost at New Mexico State University. “I don’t know if I would make them milder.”
Discussion eventually continued, and plans were made to finish drafting the new recommendations during the winter. They may even be finished before the panel’s next scheduled meeting, in June, Ms. Phillips said after the meeting.
What’s less clear is when, or if, the new Congress that takes office in January will take up the Higher Education Act and whether it will adopt any of the suggestions, in particular the ones to give the advisory panel the authority to become a decision-making body.
While the committee was overhauled in the last reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, several of its members expressed frustration on Thursday over their current role in the accreditation process, saying the group had too little influence and authority. Some even questioned whether it was worth their time.
Most of the panel’s meetings consist of reviewing and approving the Education Department staff members’ recommendations on whether to recognize an accreditor or to require some further report on compliance.
The education secretary has overturned the group’s decisions several times, Ms. Phillips said, and panel members wonder if they are doing anything to improve the quality of the accreditation process or of the colleges being evaluated.
“There’s a question,” she said, “about what value do we add in doing something so tiny.”
Eric Kelderman writes about money and accountability in higher education, including such areas as state policy, accreditation, and legal affairs.You can find him on Twitter @etkeld, or email him at eric.kelderman@chronicle.com.
