Two for-profit educational institutions, Argosy University and Bridgepoint Education, which were formerly accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, are now seeking accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The North Central Association has recently issued stricter accreditation standards for the institutions it oversees, although officials from Argosy, Bridgepoint and the accrediting agencies all cited geography as the main motivation for the institutions' plans to switch to the Western Association, which oversees institutions in California and Hawaii, according to The Chronicle. California has emerged as a growing market for for-profit educational institutions, which Argosy officials cite as their reasoning for switching accreditation agencies, and Bridgepoint has administrative offices in San Diego. While Argosy is currently in the final stages of being approved, Bridgepoint has just begun applying for accreditation and could obtain it as early as this summer.
President Barack Obama said in an interview on Monday on NBC's "Today Show" that his daughters could not receive the same caliber of education from Washington D.C.'s public schools as they do in their private school, according to The Washington Post. While Obama told NBC he had seen improvements in the city's public school system in recent years, many schools are still struggling, The Post reported. Obama's comment has revived the debate over the merits of public and private school for children of the president. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton sent their children to Sidwell Friends Academy during their terms in the White House the same school that Sasha and Malia Obama attend. President Jimmy Carter was the last recent president to send his child, daughter Amy Carter, to a public school, according to The Post.
