Nonexistent College Accredited Thanks To Betsy DeVos

February 15, 2020

USA Today reports:

Reagan National University was supposed to be a place of higher learning in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. But it was unclear how it awarded degrees. By all appearances, at present it has no students, no faculty and no classrooms.

An agency meant to serve as a gatekeeper for federal money gave the university approval to operate anyway. That accrediting agency, financially troubled and losing members fast, exists mainly because it was saved by the Education Department in 2018.

Accreditation might be the driest part of higher education, but these independent groups have huge importance: If they approve a college, the government agrees to give federal grants and loans to the students there.

The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools was stripped of its powers by the Obama administration in 2016 for accrediting multiple scam colleges. DeVos returned that power to them. Hit the link.

EDUCATION

This college was accredited by a DeVos-sanctioned group. We couldn’t find evidence of students or faculty.

Chris Quintana and Shelly Conlon USA TODAY

Published 3:11 a.m. ET Feb. 15, 2020 | Updated 1:35 p.m. ET Feb. 15, 2020

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The agency in question, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges & Schools, has a history of approving questionable colleges, with devastating consequences. It accredited ITT Tech, Corinthian Colleges and Brightwood College, massive for-profit universities whose sudden closures last decade left thousands of students without degrees and undermined the value of the education of those who did graduate. Those closures led President Barack Obama’s Education Department to strip ACICS’ powers in 2016.

But following a federal court decision, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump's administration reinstated the accrediting agency. By that point, it already had lost dozens of colleges and their membership fees. It needed new members, and fast.

The decision in 2017 to approve Reagan National University as a viable college — one which today lacks the discernible hallmarks of higher learning — calls into question ACICS’ ability to hold colleges accountable for the education they’re supposed to provide.

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Reagan National University has offices at 114 S. Main Ave on Wednesday, Jan. 29, in downtown Sioux Falls. Erin Bormett / Argus Leader

Twice, on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12, a reporter visited the listed addresses for Reagan National University. In one location, the doors were locked and the office suite was dark. Both had signs bearing the school's name. At another location, the suite was mostly empty, save for some insulation scattered on the floor and a shop vacuum.

Emails sent to the school were not returned. And days before USA TODAY published this investigation, the university took down its website.

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In January 2019, the agency sent a letter informing Reagan of a new problem. None of the university’s graduates appeared to have gotten jobs.

“The campus-level placement rate of 0% is materially below the Council Standard of 60%,” ACICS wrote in a letter posted on a federal database.

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Education coverage at USA Today is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.