With accreditor on fed’s chopping block, local schools seek successor

For five area schools, it may be time to shop for a new accreditor.

That’s the case for Victory Trade School LLC, according to Chief Administrative Officer David Myers. The nonprofit subsidiary of Springfield Victory Mission Inc. received notice in June to begin the roughly 18-month process for renewing accreditation through the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, but recent developments may force the school to switch accreditors midstream.

U.S. Department of Education staff June 15 recommended ACICS lose its recognition as an accrediting agency, and the suggestion was upheld by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity – ACICS’ accrediting body – during a June 23 review. Now, it’s up to the DOE to make a final determination.

“We’re almost caught between a rock and a hard place,” Myers said, noting Victory Trade School can switch to a new accreditor now or wait to see how ACICS’ situation plays out. “It’s a financial call for us. We can afford to go through the reaccreditation process, but it would put a burden on us to go through another accreditor.”

If ACICS loses its ability to recognize educational institutions, Victory Trade School won’t be the only school hunting for a new accreditor. According to ACICS.org, the organization accredits 800 institutions in 13 countries – locally including Bolivar Technical College, Bryan University, Everest College and ITT Technical Institute.

Unlike Victory Trade School, which doesn’t participate in DOE Title IV funding, those institutions rely on accreditation to be eligible to receive federal financial aid for student tuition.

Charlotte Gray, president of two ACICS-accredited schools, Bolivar Technical College and Texas County Technical College, said the endorsement allows about 95 percent of the combined 280 enrolled students access to education financing, such as Pell grants and other student loans.

“The bottom line is we have to have accreditation,” she said, noting the technical colleges receive about $2 million combined in Title IV funds each academic year. “We’re first- and second-year schools. Our students aren’t wealthy.”

In Springfield, Ozarks Technical Community College is not affected. OTC’s accreditation is through the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.

Familiar territory
The potential move to another accreditor is familiar territory for Victory Trade School, which became accredited through ACICS after the school’s former agency – the North Central Association’s Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement – dissolved in 2014. Myers said during a recent ACICS-hosted webinar for schools, officials indicated the DOE had 90 days to determine a next step. If the government terminates ACICS’ authority, the accreditor has indicated it would appeal the decision.

“I know their plan is to keep going forward, but quite honestly that makes me very nervous for the school,” Bolivar Tech’s Gray said, noting her schools have been with ACICS for 17 years. “We are looking at other accreditors to go to. That’s the safest way to go.”

For Myers, Victory Trade School’s accreditation plays a major role for future plans with an undisclosed local college to accept VTS students seeking to transfer credits and pursue more advanced degrees. In the case of NCA-CASI, the DOE gave schools 18 months to find another agency, and he hopes it would grant a similar grace period.

“Other agencies allowed us to come in as schools that were already accredited and skip a couple steps in the process,” Myers said. “It made it a little cheaper for us.”

The renewal process with ACICS, which Myers and staff were due to begin this month and scheduled to receive in December 2017, would have cost roughly $3,000. To join a new agency, which Myers believes VTS has found in the Council of Occupational Education, would cost between $15,000 and $20,000.

“We are going to do our homework, and when that moment comes we will do our best to get in there as quickly as possible,” Myers said. “An accreditor only has so much space per year to bring schools in, and those spaces are going to be eaten up.”

Gray also estimated it would cost several thousand dollars for her schools to switch accrediting bodies. School officials have narrowed down two potential choices, but she declined to identify the agencies.

“We really don’t have a choice,” Gray said, adding she expects the DOE will stick with its prior recommendation. “They have the authority, and I think they’re going to exercise that right.”

School standards
In addition to federal aid, Gray said school accreditation is a necessity because it holds institutions to a yardstick of educational quality.

“It says the school is meeting the standards that are set forth, faculty requirements, the whole nine yards,” Gray said, adding accreditors set benchmarks for student retention, placement and graduation in addition to auditing services and curriculum. “It dissects every component.”

When institutions run afoul of the standards, they risk losing their accreditation. Professional Massage Therapy Center lost its ACICS endorsement in 2012, setting off a nearly three-year legal battle that ended with the school closing its doors in December 2015.

ACICS’ inaccuracy in accrediting for-profit colleges is what landed the organization in hot water with the government. Corinthian Colleges Inc., which declared bankruptcy last year, retained its accreditation through ACICS despite federal investigations and a DOE fine for misleading students with regards to placement rates.

“They kind of looked away from some of these for-profit colleges in their reporting numbers,” Myers said. “The Department of Education is saying ACICS should have documentation that every number is truthful. From ACICS’ perspective, they rely on the integrity of people in my position. I see it both ways.”

Myers is hopeful the DOE will be lenient with ACICS. In recent months, he’s noticed the agency revamping its reporting guidelines, although it may be too little too late.

“I’m hoping the department will put them under probation,” Myers said, noting he sees more for-profit schools dependent on federal aid closing down if ACICS’ power to accredit is removed. “I think it’s going to get harder for proprietary schools. You’re going to see that with the crackdown on regulators.”