WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday hailed the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to withdraw recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), one of the nation’s largest accreditors of for-profit colleges. ACICS was infamous WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday hailed the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to withdraw recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), one of the nation’s largest accreditors of for-profit colleges. ACICS was infamous for accrediting the fraudulent Corinthian Colleges as it was on the verge of collapse, hurting thousands of students nationwide. Murphy questioned the CEO of ACICS in a June 2015 hearing.

“As far as I’m concerned ACICS’s failure enabled Corinthian’s fraud,” said Murphy. “I’m glad the Department of Education yanked their recognition, but I wish this had happened a year ago. Students go searching for an education to help them build better lives for themselves. The federal government has no business sanctioning ineffective accreditors that wind up misleading students about the education they’ll receive.”

In April, Murphy signed a letter urging the Department of Education to hold accreditors of failed and fraudulent for-profit colleges accountable. In the letter, Senate Democrats called for the U.S. Department of Education to engage in a thorough and comprehensive review process to determine if the accreditors both maintain and enforce sufficiently rigorous standards that examine student achievement and whether the institution is offering quality programs. The Senators argue that without a strong accrediting system, too many families will continue to fall prey to predatory colleges that mislead students about job placement and the quality of instruction. The letter also recognizes that these systemic flaws in accreditation are not the result of failures by a single executive, but are consequences of a persistent lack of institutional oversight. Accreditors that have significantly failed to live up to their responsibilities do not deserve to serve as gatekeepers to federal funds and should not be recognized by the Department.

In order to protect students from deceptive practices and bad actors in the for-profit college sector, Murphy introduced the Students Before Profits Act. The bill improves oversight of for-profit colleges, authorizes enhanced civil penalties, and requires for-profit college executives to assume personal liability for financial losses associated with Title IV funds when institutions and their executive officers break the law.

Currently, for-profit colleges enroll 10% of all postsecondary students, but account for 44% of all student loan defaults. A Senate HELP Committee investigation found that, on average, for-profit colleges allocate about 23% of revenue to recruiting and marketing, 19% to profit, and just 17% to academic instruction. Since Corinthian Colleges, the infamous for-profit institution, closed its doors earlier this year after extensive allegations of fraud, the U.S. Department of Education has forgiven $40 million in student loan debt held by former students. The Students Before Profits Act provides for new tools to recoup federal dollars from the owners and executives who reap huge profits from failed, fraudulent for-profit institutions.

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