Distance Education: Growth in Distance Education Programs and
Implications for Federal Education Policy (26-SEP-02,
GAO-02-1125T).
Increasingly, the issues of distance education and federal
student aid intersect. About one in every 13 postsecondary
students enrolls in at least one distance education course, and
the Department of Education estimates that the number of students
involved in distance education has tripled in just 4 years. As
the largest provider of financial aid to postsecondary students,
the federal government has a considerable interest in distance
education. Overall, 1.5 million out of 19 million postsecondary
students took at least one distance education course in the
1999-2000 school year. The distance education students differ
from other postsecondary students in a number of respects.
Compared to other students, they tend to be older and are more
likely to be employed full-time while attending school part-time.
They also have higher incomes and are more likely to be married.
Many students enrolled in distance education courses participate
in federal student aid programs. As distance education continues
to grow, several major aspects of federal laws, rules, and
regulations may need to be reexamined. Certain rules may need to
be modified if a small, but growing, number of schools are to
remain eligible for student aid. Students attending these schools
may become ineligible for student aid because their distance
education programs are growing and may exceed statutory and
regulatory limits on the amount of distance education an
institution can offer. In general, students at minority serving
institutions use distance education less extensively than
students at other schools. Accrediting agencies play an important
role in reviewing distance education programs. They, and
Education, are "gatekeepers" with respect to ensuring quality at
postsecondary institutions--including those that offer distance
education programs.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-02-1125T
ACCNO: A05193
TITLE: Distance Education: Growth in Distance Education Programs
and Implications for Federal Education Policy
DATE: 09/26/2002
SUBJECT: College students
Education program evaluation
Higher education
Student financial aid
Department of Education Distance
Education Demonstration Program
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
******************************************************************
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GAO-02-1125T
Testimony Before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
U. S. Senate
United States General Accounting Office
GAO For Release on Delivery Expected at 10: 00 a. m. Thursday, September
26, 2002 DISTANCE EDUCATION
Growth in Distance Education Programs and Implications for Federal
Education Policy
Statement of Cornelia M. Ashby, Director Education, Workforce, and Income
Security Issues
GAO- 02- 1125T
Page 1 GAO- 02- 1125T
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I appreciate the opportunity to
testify on issues related to distance education 1 and implications for the
federal government*s student financial aid programs. Increasingly, the
issues of distance education and federal student aid intersect. About 1 in
every 13 postsecondary students enrolls in at least one distance education
course, and the Department of Education (Education) estimates that the
number of students involved in distance education has tripled in just 4
years. As the largest provider of financial aid to postsecondary students,
the federal government has a considerable interest in distance education.
Mr. Chairman, as you know, your Committee and the Ranking Member and two
members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, asked us to
assess the current status of distance education. We will issue our final
report in September 2003. Today, I will discuss the early results of our
work. My testimony will provide information on (1) the demographic
characteristics of distance education students and the institutional
characteristics of postsecondary schools that offer distance education;
(2) federal student financial aid issues related to distance education;
(3) the use of distance education at Minority Serving Institutions; 2 and
(4) the role of accrediting agencies in reviewing distance education
programs. A major part of my testimony today is based on our analysis of
data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
1 The Higher Education Act defines distance education as an educational
process where the student is separated in time or place from the
instructor. 2 We are examining three types of Minority Serving
Institutions: Hispanic Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges
and Universities, and Tribal Colleges. Hispanic Serving Institutions are
defined as having at least 25 percent of its full- time equivalent
students Hispanic, of which no less than 50 percent are low- income
individuals. Historically Black Colleges and Universities are defined as,
among other things, any historically Black college or university that was
established prior to 1964 and whose principal mission was, and is, the
education of Black Americans. A tribally controlled college or university
is an institution which is formally controlled, or has been formally
sanctioned, or chartered, by the governing body of an Indian tribe or
tribes.
Page 2 GAO- 02- 1125T
(NPSAS), 3 an Education database covering more than 19 million
postsecondary students. We did our work from April through September 2002
in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
A decade ago, when distance education was largely the province of
correspondence schools, concerns about fraud and abuse by some schools led
the federal government to place restrictions on, among other things, the
percentage of courses an institution could provide by distance education
and still qualify to participate in the federal aid programs authorized
under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Now, however, with
distance education growing rapidly and becoming more a part of mainstream
higher education through courses taught by Internet or videoconferencing,
the Congress is reexamining these and other distance education rules to
determine if changes are warranted. The Congress has also expressed an
interest in knowing how Minority Serving Institutions are using distance
education technology. Minority Serving Institutions offer postsecondary
opportunities to nearly 2 million students and many of these students are
first generation college students.
In summary: Overall, about 1.5 million out of 19 million postsecondary
students took at least one distance education course in the 1999- 2000
school year. These 1.5 million distance education students differ from
other postsecondary students in a number of respects. Compared to other
students, they tend to be older and are more likely to be employed full-
time and attending school part- time. They also have higher incomes and
are more likely to be married. Most students take distance education
courses at public institutions, with more taking courses from two- year
schools than from four- year schools. The Internet is the most common mode
of delivery for providing distance education.
3 The NPSAS is conducted approximately every 3- 4 years by the National
Center for Education Statistics in the Department of Education. It is a
nationwide survey designed to collect demographic information on
postsecondary students, as well as information on how postsecondary
students fund their education. The most recent NPSAS covers students
attending over 6,000 Title IV eligible institutions during the 1999- 2000
school year. NPSAS defines distance education as courses delivered off
campus using live, interactive television or audio; prerecorded television
or video; CD- ROM; or a computer- based system such as, the Internet, e-
mail, or chat rooms. NPSAS does not cover correspondence students.
Page 3 GAO- 02- 1125T
Many students who take distance education courses participate in federal
student aid programs. About one- third of undergraduates and graduate
students who take all their coursework through distance education receive
Title IV financial aid. As distance education continues to grow, several
major aspects of federal laws, rules, and regulations may need to be
reexamined. Certain rules may need to be modified if a small, but growing
number of schools are to remain eligible for student aid. Students
attending these schools may become ineligible for student aid because
their distance education programs are growing and may exceed statutory and
regulatory limits on the amount of distance education an institution can
offer. Other issues involve how to account for student participation in
distance education and differences in student aid between some distance
education students and classroom students.
In general, students at Minority Serving Institutions use distance
education less extensively than students at other schools. For example,
undergraduates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities use
distance education at a lower rate than students who attend non- Minority
Serving Institutions. Also, undergraduate Hispanic students attending
Hispanic Serving Institutions use distance education less often than other
students at these institutions.
Accrediting agencies play an important role in reviewing distance
education programs. They, and Education, are the *gatekeepers* with
respect to ensuring quality at postsecondary institutions* including those
that offer distance education programs. The HEA allows accrediting
agencies to develop their own standards for ensuring the quality of
education provided by the institutions they accredit. It also gives
Education the authority to recognize those accrediting agencies it
considers to be reliable authorities on the quality of education provided
by the institutions they accredit. Critical issues include how well the
accrediting agencies and Education are carrying out their responsibilities
and whether changes are needed in HEA.
The work that we have yet to complete for our final report will examine in
more detail whether additional actions are needed to enhance access to
higher education while maintaining the integrity of the federal student
aid programs as it relates to distance education.
Distance education is not a new concept, but in recent years, it has
assumed markedly new forms and greater prominence. Distance education*s
older form was the correspondence course* a home study Background
Page 4 GAO- 02- 1125T
course generally completed by mail. More recently, distance education has
increasingly been delivered in electronic forms, such as videoconferencing
and the Internet. Some of these newer forms share more features of
traditional classroom instruction. For example, students taking a course
by videoconference generally participate in an actual class in which they
can interact directly with the instructor. Many postsecondary schools have
added or expanded electronically- based programs, so that distance
education is now relatively common across the entire postsecondary
landscape. We estimate that in the 1999- 2000 school year, about 1.5
million of the 19 million students involved in postsecondary education
took at least one electronically transmitted distance education course.
Education reports that an estimated 84 percent of four- year institutions
will offer distance education courses in 2002.
While newer forms of distance education may incorporate more elements of
traditional classroom education than before, they can still differ from a
traditional educational experience in many ways. For example,
Internetbased distance education, in which coursework is provided through
computer hookup, may substitute a computer screen for face- to- face
interaction between student and instructor. Chat rooms, bulletin boards,
and e- mail become common forms of interaction. Support services, such as
counseling, tutoring, and library services, may also be provided without
any face- to- face contact.
As the largest provider of student financial aid to postsecondary students
(an estimated $52 billion in fiscal year 2002), the federal government has
a substantial interest in the quality of distance education. Under Title
IV of the HEA, the federal government provides grants, work- study wages,
and student loans to millions of students each year. For the most part,
students taking distance education courses can qualify for this aid in the
same way as students taking traditional courses.
Differences between distance education and traditional education pose
challenges for federal student aid policies and programs. For example, in
1992, the Congress added requirements to the HEA to deal with problems of
fraud and abuse at correspondence schools* the primary providers of
distance education in the early 1990*s. 4 These requirements placed
4 Title IV of the HEA makes a distinction between students who enroll in
correspondence courses and those who enroll in telecommunications courses.
For example, students enrolled in correspondence courses cannot be
considered more than half- time students for student financial aid
purposes, even though they may be taking a full credit load.
Page 5 GAO- 02- 1125T
limitations on the use of federal student aid at these schools due to poor
quality programs and high default rates on student loans. Such problems
demonstrate why it is important to monitor the outcomes of such forms of
course delivery. In monitoring such courses, the federal government has
mainly relied on the work of accrediting agencies established specifically
for providing outside reviews of an institution*s educational programs.
Our analysis of the NPSAS showed that the estimated 1.5 million 5
postsecondary students who have taken distance education courses have
different demographic characteristics when compared with the
characteristics 6 of postsecondary students who did not enroll in distance
education. These differences included the following.
Distance education students are older. As figure 1 demonstrates, students
who took all their courses through distance education tended to be older,
on average, when compared to other students.
Figure 1: Distance education students are older
5 Of the 1.5 million distance education students, 1.26 million were
undergraduates and 272 thousand were graduate students. In total, there
were an estimated 19. 2 million postsecondary students, or 16. 5 million
undergraduates and 2.7 million graduate students in the 1999- 2000 school
year.
6 When we cite differences in student characteristics between distance
education students and students who did not take any distance education
courses, the differences are statistically significant at the 95 percent
confidence level. Characteristics of
Distance Education Students and Institutions That Offer Distance Education
Average Age
Distance Education Students Are Older
Took all distance education courses 0
5 10
15 20
25 30
35 40
Undergraduate students Graduate
students Took no distance education courses
Page 6 GAO- 02- 1125T
Distance education students are more likely to be married. Figure 2 shows
that graduate and undergraduate students that took all of their courses
through distance education are more likely to be married than those taking
no distance education courses.
Figure 2: Distance education students are more likely to be married
Undergraduates taking distance education courses are more likely to be
female. Women represented about 65 percent of the undergraduate students
who took all their courses through distance education. In contrast, they
represented about 56 percent of undergraduates who did not take a distance
education course. For graduate students, there was no significant
difference in the gender of students who took distance education courses
and those who did not.
Distance education students are more likely to work full- time. As figure
3 shows, a higher percentage of distance education students work full-
time when compared to students who did not take any distance education
courses. This difference was greatest among graduate students where about
85 percent of the students that took all of their courses through distance
education worked full- time compared to 51 percent of students who did not
take any distance education courses.
Percentage of married
students
Distance Education Students Are More Likely To Be Married
Took all distance education courses 0
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
Undergraduate students Graduate
students Took no distance education courses
Page 7 GAO- 02- 1125T
Figure 3: Distance education students are more likely to work full- time
Distance education students are more likely to be part- time students. As
might be expected, distance education students tend to go to school on a
part- time basis. For undergraduates, about 63 percent of the students who
took all their courses through distance education were part- time students
while about 47 percent of the students who did not take any distance
education courses were part- time students. This trend also occurred among
graduate students (about 79 percent of those who took their entire program
through distance education were part- time students compared with about 54
percent of those who did not take any distance education courses).
Distance education students have higher average incomes. Figure 4 shows
that in general, graduate students that took distance education courses
tended to have higher average incomes than students that did not take any
distance education courses. We found similar patterns for undergraduate
students.
Percentage of students
working full- time
Distance Education Students Are More Likely To Work Full- Time
Took all distance education courses 0
20 40
60 80
100 Undergraduate
students Graduate students
Took no distance education courses
Page 8 GAO- 02- 1125T
Figure 4: Distance education students tend to have higher average incomes
In addition to the demographic characteristics of distance education
students, NPSAS provides certain insights on the characteristics of
institutions that offer distance education programs. 7 Among other things,
it provides data on the modes of delivery that institutions used to
provide distance education and the types of institutions that offered
distance education.
Public institutions enrolled the most distance education students. For
undergraduates, public institutions enrolled more distance education
students than either private non- profit or proprietary institutions. Of
undergraduates who took at least one distance education class, about 85
percent 8 did so at a public institution (about 79 percent of all
undergraduates attended public institutions), about 12 percent did so at
private non- profit institutions (about 16 percent of all undergraduates
attended private non- profit institutions), and about 3 percent did so at
7 The design for NPSAS involves selecting a nationally representative
sample of postsecondary education institutions and students within those
institutions. NPSAS data come from multiple sources and includes a limited
amount of data on institutional characteristics. This information is
useful in developing some limited insights on institutions that offer
distance education programs.
8 Of the 85 percent of undergraduate students who took at least one
distance education course at a public institution, about 55 percent did so
at two- year or less institutions and 30 percent did so at four- year
institutions.
Income level
Distance Education Students Had Higher Average Incomes Among Graduate
Students
Took all courses through distance education $0
$10,000 $20,000
$30,000 $40,000
$50,000 $60,000
$70,000 $80,000
Took at least one distance education course Took no distance education
courses
Page 9 GAO- 02- 1125T
proprietary schools (about five percent of all undergraduates attended
proprietary schools). For graduate students, public institutions also
enrolled more* about 63. 5 percent* distance education students than
private non- profit or proprietary schools (32 and 4.5 percent,
respectively). About 58 percent, 40 percent, and two percent of all
graduate students attended public institutions, private non- profit, and
proprietary schools, respectively.
Institutions used the Internet more than any other mode to deliver
distance education. Postsecondary institutions used the Internet more than
any other mode to deliver distance education. At the three main types of
institutions (public, private non- profit, and proprietary 9 ), more than
half of the undergraduate students who took at least one distance
education course did so over the Internet. Over 58 percent of
undergraduate distance education students at public institutions used the
Internet and over 70 percent of undergraduate distance education students
at private non- profit and proprietary schools also used the Internet.
Institutions that offered graduate programs also used the Internet as the
primary means of delivering distance education courses. For graduate
students who took at least one distance education class, 65 percent of
students at public institutions used the Internet, compared with about 69
percent of students at private non- profit institutions, and about 94
percent of students at proprietary institutions.
Institutions enrolled the most distance education students in subjects
related to business, humanities, and education. For undergraduates, about
21 percent of students who took their entire program through distance
education studied business and 13 percent studied courses related to the
humanities. This is similar to patterns of students who did not take any
distance education classes (about 18 percent studied business and about 15
percent studied humanities). For graduate students, about 24 percent of
students who took their entire program through distance education enrolled
in courses related to education and about 19 percent studied business.
Again, this is similar to patterns of graduate students who did not take
any distance education classes (about 23 percent studied education and
about 17 percent studied business).
9 Proprietary schools are for- profit postsecondary institutions. They can
include traditional two- and four- year colleges and universities as well
as trade and technical schools.
Page 10 GAO- 02- 1125T
Federal student aid is an important consideration for many students who
take distance education courses, although not to the same degree as
students in more traditional classroom settings. Students who took their
entire program through distance education applied for student aid at a
lower rate than students who did not take any distance education courses
(about 40 percent compared with about 50 percent), and fewer also received
federal aid (about 31 percent compared with about 39 percent).
Nonetheless, even these lower percentages for distance education represent
a substantial federal commitment. 10
A number of issues related to distance education and the federal student
aid program have surfaced and will likely receive attention when the
Congress considers reauthorization of the HEA or when Education examines
regulations related to distance education. Among them are the following:
*Fifty percent* rule limits aid to correspondence and telecommunication
students in certain circumstances. One limitation in the HEA* called the
*50 percent rule** involves students who attend institutions that provide
half or more of their coursework through correspondence or
telecommunications classes or who have half or more of their students
enrolled in such classes. When institutions exceed the 50 percent
threshold, their students become ineligible to receive funds from federal
student aid programs. As distance education becomes more widespread, more
institutions may lose their eligibility. Our initial work indicates about
20 out of over 6,000 Title IV- eligible institutions may face this problem
soon or have already exceeded the 50 percent threshold. Without some
relief, the students that attend these institutions may become ineligible
for student aid from the federal government in the future. As an example,
one institution we visited already offers more than half its courses
through distance education; however, it remains eligible for the student
aid program because it has received a waiver from Education*s Distance
10 Students who took their entire program through distance education
courses received an estimated $763 million in federal student aid in
the1999- 2000 school year. Students who took at least one distance
education course may have also received federal student aid; however, the
data sources used by NPSAS do not distinguish between aid awarded for
distance education courses and traditional classroom courses. Growth of
Distance
Education Affects Federal Student Aid Policies on Several Fronts
Page 11 GAO- 02- 1125T
Education Demonstration Program. 11 Without a change in the statute or a
continuation of the waiver, more than 900 of its students will not be
eligible for student aid from the federal government in the future.
To deal with this issue, the House passed the Internet Equity and
Education Act of 2001 (H. R. 1992) in October 2001. The House proposal
allows a school to obtain a waiver for the 50 percent rule if it (1) is
already participating in the federal student loan program, (2) has a
default rate of less than 10 percent for each of the last three years for
which data are available, and (3) has notified the Secretary of Education
of its election to qualify for such an exemption, and has not been
notified by the Secretary that such election would pose a significant risk
to federal funds and the integrity of Title IV programs. The Senate is
considering this proposal.
Federal student aid policies treat living expenses differently for some
distance education students. Currently, students living off- campus who
are enrolled in traditional classes or students enrolled in
telecommunications classes at least half- time can receive an annual
living allowance for room and board costs of at least $1,500 and $2, 500,
respectively. Distance learners enrolled in correspondence classes are not
allowed the same allowance. Whether to continue to treat these distance
education students differently for purposes of federal student aid is an
open policy question.
Regulations Relating to *Seat* Time. Institutions offering distance
education courses that are not tied to standard course lengths such as
semesters or quarters have expressed difficulty in interpreting and
applying Education*s *seat rules,* which are rules governing how much
instructional time must be provided in order for participants to qualify
for federal aid. 12 In particular, a rule called the *12- hour rule* has
become increasingly difficult to implement. This rule was put in place to
curb
11 The Congress created the Distance Education Demonstration Program in
the 1998 amendments to the HEA to study and test possible solutions to
federal student aid issues related to distance education. The program has
authority to grant waivers on certain statutory or regulatory requirements
related to distance education and federal student financial aid programs,
such as the 50 percent rule.
12 Under HEA, a student must receive at least 30 weeks of instructional
time in order to be considered a full- time student for financial aid
purposes. For students operating under standard terms such as semesters,
this is relatively easy to translate into semester hours. A full- time
undergraduate attending a school that operated on the semester system, for
example, would need to complete 24 semester hours to be considered a full-
time student.
Page 12 GAO- 02- 1125T
abuses by schools that would stretch the length of their educational
programs without providing any additional instruction time. Schools would
do this to maximize the amount of federal aid their students could receive
and pass back to the school in the form of tuition and fees. The rule
defined each week of instruction in a program that is not a standard
course length as 12 hours of instruction, examination, or preparation for
examinations. Some distance education courses, particularly self- paced
courses, do not necessarily fit this model. Further, the rule also
produces significant disparities in the amount of federal aid that
students receive for the same amount of academic credit, based simply on
whether the program that they are enrolled in uses standard academic terms
or not. In August 2002, Education proposed replacing the 12- hour rule
with a *oneday
rule,* 13 which would require one day of instruction per week for any
course. This rule currently applies to standard term courses, and as
proposed, it would cover, among other things, nonstandard term courses.
Education plans to publish final regulations that would include this
change on or before November 1, 2002. Some institutions that might provide
nonstandard distance education courses remain concerned, however, because
Education has not identified how the *one- day rule* will be interpreted
or applied.
In considering changes in policy that are less restrictive but that could
improve access to higher education, it will be important to recognize that
doing so may increase the potential for fraud if adequate management
controls are not in place.
While our work examining the use of distance education at Minority Serving
Institutions (MSIs) is not yet completed, the preliminary data indicate
that MSIs* and more specifically, minority students at MSIs* make less use
of distance education than students at other schools. NPSAS includes data
for a projectable number of students from Historically Black Colleges and
Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions, but it only includes one
Tribal College. We plan to send a questionnaire to officials at all three
MSI groups to gain a better understanding of their use of distance
education technology. In the meantime, however, the available NPSAS data
showed the following:
13 The Internet Equity and Education Act (H. R. 1992) includes a similar
definition for a week of instruction. Minority Serving
Institutions Tend To Use Distance Education Less Frequently Than Other
Schools
Page 13 GAO- 02- 1125T
Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities tend to use
distance education to a lesser extent than non- MSI students. About 6
percent of undergraduate students at Historically Black Colleges and
Universities enrolled in at least one distance education course and about
1.1 percent took their entire program through distance education. These
rates are lower than students who took at least one distance education
course or their entire program through distance education at non- MSIs.
Hispanic students attending Hispanic Serving Institutions use distance
education at a lower rate than their overall representation in these
schools. About 51 percent of the undergraduates at Hispanic Serving
Institutions are Hispanic, but they comprise only about 40 percent of the
undergraduate students enrolled in distance education classes. This
difference is statistically significant. Similarly, our analysis also
shows that the greater the percentage of Hispanic students at the
institution, the lower the overall rate of distance education use at that
school. 14
Since NPSAS includes data from only one Tribal College, we were unable to
develop data on the extent that Tribal College students use distance
education. However, our visits to several Tribal Colleges provide some
preliminary insights. Our work shows that distance education may be a
viable supplement to classroom education at many Tribal Colleges for a
number of reasons. Potential students of many Tribal Colleges live in
communities dispersed over large geographic areas* in some cases potential
students might live over a hundred miles from the nearest Tribal College
or satellite campus* making it difficult or impossible for some students
to commute to these schools. In this case, distance education is an
appealing way to deliver college courses to remote locations.
Additionally, officials at one Tribal College told us that some residents
of reservations may be place- bound due to tribal and familial
responsibilities; distance education would be one of the few realistic
postsecondary education options for this population. Also important,
according to officials from some Tribal Colleges we visited, tribal
residents have expressed an interest in enrolling in distance education
courses.
14 Hispanic Serving Institutions can have between 25 percent and up to 100
percent Hispanic students. Our analysis compares undergraduate Hispanic
Serving Institutions with less than 50 percent Hispanic students and
Hispanic Serving Institutions with 50 percent or more Hispanic students.
Those institutions with 50 percent or more Hispanic students had a 4
percent participation rate in distance education; those institutions with
less than 50 percent Hispanic students had a participation rate of 9. 6
percent.
Page 14 GAO- 02- 1125T
The HEA focuses on accreditation* a task undertaken by outside agencies*
as the main tool for ensuring quality in postsecondary programs, including
those offered through distance education. The effectiveness of these
accreditation reviews, as well as Education*s monitoring of the
accreditation process, remains an important issue.
To be eligible for federal funds, a postsecondary institution or program
must be accredited by an agency recognized by Education as a reliable
authority on quality. 15 Education recognizes 58 separate accrediting
agencies for this purpose, of which only 38 are recognized for Title IV
student aid purposes. The 58 accrediting agencies operate either
regionally or nationally, and they accredit a wide variety of institutions
or programs, including public and private, non- profit two- year or four-
year colleges and universities; graduate and professional programs;
proprietary vocational and technical training programs; and non- degree
training programs. Some accrediting agencies accredit entire institutions
and some accredit specialized programs, departments, or schools that
operate within an institution or as single purpose, freestanding
institutions.
The HEA and regulations issued by Education establish criteria under which
Education will recognize an accreditation agency as a reliable authority
regarding the quality of education. 16 The HEA states that accrediting
agencies must assess quality in 10 different areas, such as curriculum,
student achievement, and program length. Under the HEA, an accrediting
agency is required to include distance education programs when assessing
quality. In doing so, an accrediting agency must consistently apply and
enforce its standards with respect to distance education programs as well
as other educational programs at the institution.
Our analysis in this area is not as far along as it is for the other
topics we are discussing today. We plan to review a number of
accreditation efforts to determine the way in which accrediting agencies
review distance
15 Institutions or programs which have not yet been accredited by a
recognized accrediting agency are also eligible to apply for federal funds
if Education has satisfactory assurance that the institution or program
will meet the recognized accrediting agency*s standards within a
reasonable time. Such institutions or programs are said to hold
*preaccreditation*
status. 16 The regulations are contained in 34 CFR Part 602. Effectiveness
of
Accrediting Agencies Is An Important Distance Education Issue
Page 15 GAO- 02- 1125T
education programs. We expect that our work will address the following
issues:
How well accrediting agencies are carrying out their responsibilities
for reviewing distance education. The HEA does not contain specific
language setting forth how distance learning should be reviewed. Instead,
it identifies key areas that accrediting agencies should cover, including
student achievement and outcomes, and it relies on accrediting agencies to
develop their own standards for how they will review distance education
programs. We will look at how accrediting agencies are reviewing distance
education programs and the standards that are being used.
How well Education is carrying out its responsibilities and whether
improvements are needed in Education*s policies and procedures for
overseeing accrediting agencies. Under the HEA, Education has authority to
recognize those agencies it considers to be reliable authorities on the
quality of education or training provided. Accrediting agencies have an
incentive to seek Education*s recognition because without it, students at
the institutions they accredit would not be eligible to participate in
federal aid programs. We will conduct work to identify what improvements,
if any, are needed in Education*s oversight of accrediting agencies.
In closing, distance education has grown rapidly over the past few years
and our work indicates that distance learning might present new
educational opportunities for students. Congress and the Administration
need to ensure that changes to the HEA and regulations do not increase the
chances of fraud, waste, or abuse to the student financial aid programs.
At the request of this Committee, and members of the House Committee on
Education and the Workforce, we will continue our study of the issues that
we have discussed today.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I will be happy to respond to
any questions you or other members of the Committee may have.
Page 16 GAO- 02- 1125T
For further information, please contact Cornelia M. Ashby at (202)
5128403. Individuals making key contributions to this testimony include
Jerry Aiken, Neil Asaba, Kelsey Bright, Julian Fogle, Ellen Habenicht,
Chris Hatscher, Jill Peterson, Stan Stenersen, and Susan Zimmerman.
Contact and
Acknowledgments
(130202)
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