Undergraduate students at just over two-thirds of NACCAS’s members have lower earnings four years after graduation than adults with only a high school diploma.
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The National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences—one of the nation’s largest cosmetology and massage therapy accreditors—shouldn’t be recognized by the federal government, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity said Wednesday.
In a 9-to-3 vote, the committee that advises on accreditation issues recommended that the Education Department deny NACCAS’s petition for renewed recognition “on the grounds that the agency does not comply” with several federal policies. Department staff and members of the advisory committee raised several concerns with the accreditor, including:
The number of institutions or programs placed on probation at a given time, A lack of transparency when it comes to disclosing member programs’ accreditation status to students,Poor student outcomes like graduation rates and postgraduation earnings among member institutions,High tuition rates and debt levels compared to student earnings after graduation, andNACCAS’s decision to let programs restart the clock to resolve compliance issues each time a new error is noted.
