Dive Brief:

• A federal judge has ruled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not have the authority to investigate the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
• The Chronicle of Higher Education reports Judge Richard J. Leon refused to require the for-profit accreditor to hand over documents the CFPB has been demanding for an investigation into its practices.
• The judge said Congress has not given the CFPB authority to regulate educational institutions, which Republicans argued in response to the CFPB civil investigative demand last year.

Dive Insight:

As it has held its ground with the CFPB, the ACICS has come under fire as the “worst of the worst” among accreditors. Just over a dozen state attorneys general recently wrote to the U.S. Department of Education, calling on it to reject renewal of the accreditor’s approval to monitor colleges and universities. In the letter, the attorneys general said ACICS deserves “special opprobrium” for, among other things, its low graduation rates and high student loan default rates.

This week, ACICS CEO Albert Gray resigned as the accreditor announced a commitment to improving its operations. Perhaps as a show of this path forward, ACICS reportedly threatened sanctions in asking ITT Technical Institutes to respond to allegations from state and federal agencies that it doesn’t meet accrediting standards.