This is from the ACICS site
Within the higher education community, accrediting agencies, state regulatory agencies, and the U. S. Department of Education are all involved in institutional oversight. As already described, accrediting agencies are responsible for determining educational quality. State regulatory agencies are responsible for granting the legal authority for institutions to operate in their states and for consumer protection matters. The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for determining the eligibility of institutions to participate in federal assistance programs and for enforcement of the regulations governing the administration of federal student assistance programs. In addition, the U.S. Department of Education, using Congressionally mandated criteria, recognizes accrediting agencies to ensure that these agencies are, for the purposes of the Higher Education Act, "reliable authorities regarding the quality of education or training offered by the institutions or programs they accredit."
If we can get a national private institute that everyone agrees to I would be pleased with that as well. But we have to have something to fill that void.
It is widely recognized that a solid and well grounded educational structure is in the national interest. Anything else in this day and age is foolish at best.
The DOE is currently failing at that i a variety of ways. It needs major revision or replacing, I will grant that in a heart beat, but reckless solutions create bigger problems.
Obviously this would go without hardly being missed.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Education, using Congressionally mandated criteria, recognizes accrediting agencies to ensure that these agencies are, for the purposes of the Higher Education Act, "reliable authorities regarding the quality of education or training offered by the institutions or programs they accredit."
ACICS will still be there, right? Everybody knows about them, even if DOE goes away.