U.S College Licensing

[ChadS]

But it is very easy to find out if a school is accredited. I just did a quick search on my alma mater (Googled “washington state university accreditation”), and the second link:

accreditation.wsu.edu/

And each of the colleges at WSU have their own accreditation pages.

The issue isn’t determining the accreditation (or lack of), but the difficulty in comparing the different groups offering accreditation. Perhaps the DoE should focus on licensing accrediting institutions, rather than evaluating schools. But even then, I don’t like the idea of “licensed” accreditors. Rather, the DoE could put out a list of minimum standards, then say which accrediting institutions meet those standards. Then potential students (and employers validating graduates) can better evaluate those different institutions.

I think that would make more sense. It would eliminate a layer of bureaucracy, but give some guidelines with which people (consumers) could judge both an accrediting agency and the educational institution. People could choose to either heed or ignore advice and weigh their own options.

Go after them for what? Offering an education (albeit a poor one)? I agree that if an institution is making promises that are too good to be true should be punished for false advertising, I’m not so sure they are guilty of anything actionable by the DoE. Again, diploma mills are very likely not accredited, and when people are planning to fork over money for a piece of paper, they should be aware of that. If the DoE is to be involved, it should be at this stage, not outlawing institutions that may offer some legitimate training.

I’ll have to beg off of this one since my memory is failing me for the specifics. But, I think it was these colleges delivering more than just a horrible education, but they made specific “promises” in regards to salary and type of position that could be had after graduation. I think the vast majority of colleges know enough not to do this, but then again there are a few that might not. Then I think this is a rather small number of schools and the vast majority do provide training to people at all levels.

ChadS

 

[bbarrick8383]

Ok so what is a good place to get my news? I’m sorry but its all very frustrating.

Well, your about my age so you may be like me and unable to sit down and read a newspaper other than the local one to find out whose getting married/arrested or having garage sales, the funnies and on occasion the thingy that tells you when you should smile more often. I watch Fox on occasion, Hannity is a bit monotonous, O’Reilly is pretty good, the actual news guys are just fine to watch. Some people forget there is a difference between the opinion guys and the actual news guys. I listen to sirius patriot and John Gibson on Fox. I don’t care much for anything left leaning.

We got the left, saying don’t listen or watch Fox…

Ignore them, if you want a centrist point of view watch the Fox news guys.

We got the right, saying don’t listen or watch ANYTHING else…

Depends on your point of view in politics. You could always look for a good blogger who tends to explain things the way you see them. There is a poster here on CAF who has a conservative blog he links to in his signature.

Can someone please?? Skip the ‘spin’ and just tell me the facts?

Unfortunately there will always be some spin these days, journalism is dead for the most part. If you ask me your going to get the “always right” conservative attitude, ask a liberal and they will tell you wierd liberal stuff only they can come up with.

 

[Alan55]

A lot of college loan money goes to students in fly-by-night colleges and diploma mills rather than students in legitimate colleges and trade schools. The federal government has a legitimate interest in deciding whether it is reasonable to offer loan money to students in such schools, and this seems to me the best way to find out. I don’t see a sinister motive.

 

[bbarrick8383]

A lot of college loan money goes to students in fly-by-night colleges and diploma mills rather than students in legitimate colleges and trade schools. The federal government has a legitimate interest in deciding whether it is reasonable to offer loan money to students in such schools, and this seems to me the best way to find out. I don’t see a sinister motive.

Government should not be in the business of doling out loans anyway. We see where that’s gotten us with the housing market.

 

[Joseph_L_Varga]

Can someone help me make sense of this? I thought schools, or maybe I should say ‘colleges’ were already licensed? Or ‘accredited’? Whats the difference? What will this mean?

wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=209589

Under the proposed federal rule change, institutions of higher education “would be required to have a document of state approval … to operate an educational program, including programs leading to a degree or certificate,” explained an analysis by Shapri D. LoMaglio for the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

“I think it is the greatest threat to academic freedom in our lifetime,” former Sen. Bill Armstrong, now president of Colorado Christian University, told WND. “But only if you love liberty.”

An accreditation is something like this: “We, the Movie Theater Cockroaches film guide, think that this is a cool movie, and you won’t regret spending an evening and some money on watching this movie. We heartily recommend this movie to you.”

A license is something like this: “We, the Youth Commission of the Communist Party of Red China, will allow some movies, but not others, to be shown in movie theaters of our country. We need to protect our youth from the evil influence of Capitalists and Bourgeois elements, therefore certain movies will be banned. Likewise, we will censor access to any websites critical of the Communist regime or mentioning the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, and we will ban the import and distribution of books opposing dialectic materialism, atheism, and Communism.”

An accreditation is simply someone’s opinion about someone else or something else, while a license is a state’s means to censor, control, and ban others. A license is not always a bad thing - e.g. the state withholding license and essentially banning the sale of leaded gasoline is a way to protect the population from those who would pollute the air and the environment with neurotoxic lead compounds. But using this licensing trick to ban colleges really sounds like something straight out of China or the Soviet Union.

What if a Catholic college wants to offer a course in sound Catholic Sexual Ethics and Medical Ethics including the teaching of pre-marital sexual abstinence, marriage as the covenant of husband and wife, and natural family planning, but the government decides not to grant a license for such course, because everybody should teach, in the government’s opinion, condoms and birth control pills, sexual experimention outside marriage, including gay and lesbian sex, group sex, “safer sex”, and whatnot? What if this is what the government wants, and will use the licensing process to shut up anyone who dissents and to ban them from teaching sound Catholic sex education and ethics?

The government should stay the hell out of imposing its agenda on insitutes of higher education.

What’s next, requiring a license for websites to operate, and shutting down WorldNetDaily, whether you agree with WND or not? Licensing political speech on the airwaves and shutting down Fox News Channel? Why not require a license for Churches to operate and ban all Churches (withhold their license) if they speak out against abortion and the redefinition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman? Also, why not require a license for all book publishers and media outlets, and ban anyone who criticizes the ruling government?