Next week (June 17) the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing to examine how regional accrediting agencies define the “credit hour” as the agencies judge the academic quality and rigor of the institutions they accredit.

The issue of “credit hour” definition emerged in audits conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General of three accrediting agencies. The concern focused on the perception that agencies are setting too lax a standard on the amount of time students spend on course work to earn academic credit.