Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 100 Part 2.djvu/473

 PUBLIC LAW 99-498—OCT. 17, 1986

100 STAT. 1575

"(G) the indicators of institutional and programmatic quality . r, that should be provided to applicants and students; and "(H) alternative approaches that might be used by the Secretary for institutional and programmatic recognition to permit student participation in Federal student assistance programs, as each factor bears on eligibility for participation in Federal student assistance programs. "(3) The study shall also include an analysis of—"(A) the processes and procedures currently utilized by the Secretary and the Department in determining institutional and program eligibility for receiving Federal student assistance funds; "(B) the operations and effectiveness in carrying out eligibility determination of the division of the Department referred to as the 'Division of Eligibility and Agency Evaluation'; "(C) review of alternatives to accreditation in determining eligibility and their acceptability; "(D) the role and effectiveness of, participation agreements, between institutions and programs and the Department in determining specific institutional program eligibility for Fedrx.^^o eral funds; "(E) the ability of the Department to enforce conditions specified in participation agreements, including institutional and program audits; "(F) the current status, functioning, and effectiveness of the National Advisory Committee on Accreditation and Institutional Eligibility, including its role in developing criteria for recognition of accrediting agencies and evaluating their success in assessing the quality of the education or training offered. "(e) The Commission shall adopt procedures allowing any interested party to submit information with respect to the recognition process, including critiques of current accrediting agency recognition procedures, accreditation procedures, possible alternative procedures, and proposed changes in criteria for recognition of individual accrediting agencies. "(f) The Commission shall prepare a narrative and statistical Reports. report consisting of— "(1) an overview description of the voluntary accrediting process used for postsecondary education in the United States; and "(2) a brief description of each accrediting agency recognized by the Department. The report shall include at least a statement of the agency's purpose and a description of the organizational and governance structure of the agency, the agency's accreditation and visitation procedures, employers of members of the accrediting agency's governing body, the agency's sources of financial support, and such background information as the Commission may request from the agency regarding the number of members, number of candidates for accreditation, number of members voluntarily withdrawn after membership, number of applications withdrawn before membership, number of members dropped, and number of applicants denied accreditation. The report shall include the types of information shared among the various accrediting agencies, the degree of duplication among accrediting agencies in the current system, and an analysis of reported complaints by the agency and its member institutions and programs.

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