WASHINGTON — The organization at the center of one of the largest fraud scandals in the history of for-profit colleges is planning a comeback.
The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools was stripped of its powers in December 2016 amid the collapse of two for-profit university chains, where tens of thousands of students were encouraged to take on hundreds of millions in debt based on false promises, including jobs after graduation.
The ordeal left thousands of students stranded, and many have since flooded the Education Department with applications for relief from student loan debt. The Obama administration approved about 32,000 claims totaling $449 million.
Now, that same accrediting council is asking to be reinstated by the Trump administration as a federal gatekeeper for hundreds of degree-granting programs and billions of dollars in federal funds.
The move comes as the accrediting agency continues to be the target of criticism. Last week, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the outspoken chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, singled it out when he charged that for-profit accreditation boards were running “visa mills” used by foreign students to come to the United States with minimal scrutiny.
Michelle Edwards, the council’s president and chief executive, said that two of the schools mentioned in Mr. Grassley’s letter had already had their recognition revoked for failing to meet financial requirements, but that the agency’s criteria do not focus on matters relating to student visas.
The council’s prospective return has outraged student and consumer protection advocates, who worry that it would signal that predatory institutions will be allowed to flourish in the for-profit-friendly administration of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
