Press Releases

The chairmen of the U.S. Senate and House education committees today called on a federal agency with authority over consumer financial products to immediately halt its “unprecedented” investigation into a college accreditor.

Senate chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and House chairman John Kline (R-MN) sent a letter to Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, following recent reports that the agency has initiated an investigation into a college accreditor.

“We write to request you immediately rescind the issuance of a civil investigative demand to the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and halt any other planned investigatory actions regarding accreditors or the accreditation of institutions of higher education,” Alexander and Kline write. “This action is an unprecedented overreach by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and raises serious concerns regarding jurisdiction given the CFPB’s limited enforcement authority that does not in any way include the higher education accreditation process.”

The chairmen write that Congress has given the U.S. Department of Education sole authority over accreditors, but has not given the education department the authority to determine education quality itself. As the chairmen note:

 

By undertaking this investigation, the CFPB is holding itself out as an expert in determining the quality of education or training programs at institutions of higher education. Congress clearly stipulated in law this determination is not something the federal government can or should do. Not even the Department of Education is authorized by law to determine the quality of institutions of higher education. This action is an unprecedented intrusion by your agency into higher education and undermines the process Congress created to assess institutional quality. This action will cause confusion and disruption throughout the higher education community and ultimately undermine the ability of students to further their education.

Both committees are in the process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, which includes a review of the accreditation process. The chairmen write: “Any changes to the accreditation process must take place through the legislative process. Your efforts in this area are an inappropriate and disruptive intrusion into the work of Congress and our nation’s higher education system. For these reasons, we request you immediately cease your misguided investigation.”

The complete text of the letter is below and can be found online here.