WASHINGTON — Arguing that millions of federal tax dollars and the futures of low-income students are at stake, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Wednesday called for accrediting agencies to play a more active role in fighting fraud, waste and abuse in higher education.
“Don’t sit on your hands as states and the federal government go after schools for fraud,” Warren told approximately 400 attendees at the annual conference of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or CHEA.
Rather, Warren said, accrediting agencies should be more aggressive and work with the federal government to share information and determine if schools are cheating students.
“You’re supposed to be the ones on the front lines here,” Warren said.
Warren also said she planned to reintroduce a revised version of her proposed Accreditation Reform and Enhanced Accountability Act — which she and Sens. Dick Durban, D-Ill., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, originally introduced last year — in the current Congress as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
Among other things, the proposed law would have accreditors focus on metrics such as graduation rates, loan repayment rates, loan default rates, and job placement rates as they evaluate schools.
“It would empower accreditors with the ability to evaluate college affordability and how well colleges are enrolling and serving their low-income students,” Warren said. “It would require accreditors to respond quickly when shady schools are under investigation for fraud.”
