Key Points 

• Most states require private degree-granting universities to gain recognition from an accrediting agency to operate. 
• Accreditation is a significant barrier to entry in higher education. Accreditors force colleges to bear substantial costs but are not an effective quality control. 
• States should allow colleges to operate without accreditation if they satisfy other state regulatory requirements and adopt consumer protections.

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Introduction

Accreditation is a major barrier to higher education reform. In a bid to reduce the agencies’ power over state universities, Florida and North Carolina have passed laws requiring public colleges to periodically change accreditors.¹ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke for many policy-savvy conservative leaders when he declared that you can trace university ideological capture “all the way to the accreditation cartels.”² Florida even filed an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging that the entire system of accreditation is unconstitutional.³ 

Constitutional or not, accreditors are an administrative anomaly: private nonprofit agencies that nonetheless possess life-and-death power over higher education. To maintain federal funding, universities must satisfy the administrative requirements and whims of these unelected entities. Would-be startup colleges have to jump through accreditor-designed hoops simply to operate. 

But states can deal a blow to accreditors’ power. To reduce college costs and promote innovation in higher education, states should drop accreditation requirements for new and existing colleges that otherwise satisfy the conditions for state authorization. 

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Notes

1. Laura Spitalniak, “North Carolina Law Forces Colleges to Change Accreditors Every Cycle,” Higher Ed Dive, October 10, 2023, https://www.highereddive.com/news/north-carolina-law-forces-colleges-to-change-accreditors-every-cycle/696197/. 
2. Jonathan Swan et al., “Five Takeaways from a Rocky 2024 Debut,” The New York Times, May 25, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/us/politics/takeaways-desantis-2024-twitter.html. 
3. Katherine Knott, “DeSantis Challenges Constitutionality of Accreditation,” Inside Higher Ed, June 27, 2023, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2023/06/27/florida-lawsuit-challenges-constitutionality; and Doug Lederman, “Judge Rejects Florida Lawsuit Challenging Accreditation,” Inside Higher Ed, October 3, 2024, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/10/03/judge-rejects-fla-suit-challenging-higher-ed-accreditation.