TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) — New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced Feb. 20 that he has joined a coalition of 20 state attorneys general in a letter urging the U.S. Department of Education to deny an application for accreditation by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS).
“Many people in New Jersey and across the nation spent their hard-earned money and incurred significant student loan debt by enrolling in schools accredited by ACICS, only to find that the schools they’d chosen were not as advertised, and they were never going to receive the education they paid for,” Grewal said in a statement.
ACICS lost its national recognition in 2016 after allegations it failed to comply with federal law. Because of its alleged failures, numerous for-profit schools were able to defraud and victimize students around the country. ACICS currently is attempting to regain its status as a nationally recognized accreditor.
“As an accrediting agency, ACICS was entrusted by the U.S. Department of Education to act as a watchdog and ensure that only schools meeting certain standards of quality were accredited,” Grewal said. “ACICS betrayed that trust. Any overture by ACICS to regain its federal recognition before it corrects the deficiencies in its accreditation program should be rejected.”
Joining New Jersey in the letter on ACICS were the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.