Instead, HEA 98 amends the law to state explicitly that accreditation of these programs will be subject to the same criteria as all other programs. Thus, the control of accreditation standards of distance education will remain with institutions and their accreditation organizations, and not be shifted to the federal government. SPREs were to be state-based organizations to serve as enforcement agents of federal rules supported by federal appropriations to combat fraud and abuse in student aid programs. In 1995, the Administration abandoned a two-year effort to write regulations to implement SPREs, following vociferous protests by the higher education community. HEA 98 officially removes the authority for SPRE from the statutes.
Federal authority is reduced and voluntary accreditation is strengthened.
Due to rapid developments in this area and broad political support for technology based innovations in delivery systems, Congress wanted to respond affirmatively. But Congress was also wary of weakening the system of quality assurance, especially after the success of the 1992 reforms at reducing fraud and abuse in student aid programs. CHEA strongly supported this demonstration, but needed to advocate sound quality assurance in this experiment. Congress recognized this role with two important provisions. Participating institutions are required to demonstrate in their applications their prior consultation with recognized accreditors on quality assurance.