Report: Top Ed Dept official, Dream Center execs corresponded over accreditation issues

Education Dive

Hallie Busta

July 28, 2020

Dive Brief:

• A new report from the House’s education committee finds that a top U.S. Education Department official corresponded extensively with executives at the Dream Center about the accreditation status of two of its now-shuttered colleges. The nonprofit’s attempt to run a roster of for-profit institutions collapsed last year.

• The committee’s probe centers on the department’s role in providing federal financial aid to two schools while they were unaccredited.

• The committee says its findings, which are based on documents and recordings provided by sources outside the department, conflict with the department’s previous accounts of events, including the extent of involvement by Diane Auer Jones, its principal deputy under secretary.