During the presidency of Barack Obama, concerns about the validity of its accreditation led the U.S. Department of Education to revoke the accreditor's recognition in 2016, making the students of schools without other accreditation ineligible for federal student aid. After a legal battle, President Donald Trump's administration undid that move. Through a lawsuit, Trump's Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, restored the institution's recognition (although the Council for Higher Education Accreditation withdrew the organization's membership). Immediately after President Biden's inauguration in January of 2021, an independent advisory board, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, following a recommendation from the U.S. Department of Education staff, recommended 11–1 that the ACICS lose its recognition by the U.S. Department of Education as an authorized accrediting body. Final authority rests with the U.S. Secretary of Education.