Dive Brief:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools when it failed to provide information requested by the agency last summer and at issue in the ongoing battle is whether the CFPB has the authority to demand it.
• Inside Higher Ed reports the CFPB wants answers to questions about ACICS' approval of several Corinthian Colleges campuses, FastTrain College, ITT Technical Institute, and Westwood College along with the names of the accreditation review team.
• The case is being watched closely as it will set precedent for whether accreditors can be held accountable under consumer protection laws. Other accrediting bodies have advocated for ACICS in the fight, arguing the CFPB demands threaten the integrity of the accreditation process.

Dive Insight:

Accreditors have taken a lot of flak since the collapse of Corinthian Colleges, at which time it still had full accreditation from ACICS. Federal officials and legislators have criticized the agencies for weak oversight, though the times accreditors have taken steps to remove accreditation.

As in the case of the City College of San Francisco, the same officials jumped to the defense of the institution. Beyond these examples, the Higher Learning Commission has been in the crosshairs of the Department of Education's inspector general for the way it approves competency-based education programs.

Accreditation is one of the key areas of likely reform when the Higher Education Act gets a rewrite — something Congress was at one point expected to complete by the end of 2015. Now, during a presidential election campaign, the timeline has been pushed back for as long as several years.