Accrediting Standards Assailed as ‘Too Loose’

Vocational schools are licensed by private, nonprofit organizations, some of whose leaders have close ties to the schools themselves. Critics contend that accrediting needs to be more rigorous, while officials of the organizing organizations maintain that the standards are stiff already.

Accreditation is a crucial step for vocational schools, because it is a requirement for the schools’ students to be eligible for government-backed loans and grants.

The major accrediting organizations are the Assn. of Independent Colleges & Schools (AICS), the National Assn. of Trade and Technical Schools (NATTS), the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts & Sciences (NACAS) and the National Home Study Council (NHSC).

In addition, there are six regional accrediting organizations, such as the Southern Assn. of Colleges & Schools and the Western Assn. of Colleges & Schools. All are private, nonprofit organizations that charge membership fees.

On-Site Visit

All the major accrediting bodies require a school to be in operation for one year and submit to an on-site visit before being eligible for accreditation. The accrediting bodies say they examine the school’s academic program, facilities, faculty and financial stability before giving approval.

Officials of the accrediting bodies defend their work. Carol Cataldo of NACAS and Dorothy Fenwick of NATTS said many schools that initially apply for accreditation do not complete the process because they find the rules too rigorous. Fenwick said 83% of the schools that completed the process at NATTS in the last two years were approved.

But Ronald Reiter, assistant California attorney general in the consumer protection unit, who has been looking into profit-making vocational schools, expressed serious reservations. “The accreditation standards are loose to say the least,” Reiter said.

Reiter and Welford Wilms, professor of education at UCLA who has studied vocational schools for the National Institute of Education, said many board members of accrediting bodies are either current or former executives of the schools. “It’s the old boys’ club,” Wilms said.

The authors of a Department of Education study issued in late February were also critical of the accreditation process. For example, they noted that newly opened branch campuses of an accredited school are automatically awarded the credential, without undergoing individual inspection.

They were also critical of schools that in effect shop around for accreditation agencies, switching from one agency to another if they lose the credential, or if they are unhappy with the degree of scrutiny.

U.S. Education Secretary William J. Bennett has recommended that credentialing agencies voluntarily agree not to accredit for one year any school that has had its accreditation revoked by another agency.