Accreditation Process Questioned At Hearing About For-Profit Colleges

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander says for-profit career colleges likely need better oversight from the groups that approve the schools’ standards. Alexander made his comments at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

The hearing revolved around a federal probe in which investigators used bogus identities and documents to apply for admission at for-profit schools.

They found that college representatives exaggerated potential salaries after graduation, and pressured applicants to sign contracts before t hey knew how much money their courses would cost. After testimony, Senator Lamar Alexander offered this solution:

“We want to make sure when we do something about this that we separate those who are doing the job of helping achieve the president’s goal of increasing the college graduation rate and we don’t shoot quail with a cannon in other words and miss the quail and hit some innocent people so in looking for a way to cancel the act I’m thinking that working with the accreditors is a very promising opportunity.”

The head of an accrediting agency expressed a willingness to work with Congress to strengthen the accreditation process. For-profit colleges have seen a five-fold increase in enrollment nationwide in the last several years.