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Everything you need to know about higher education accreditation right now

September 17, 2026

Accreditation has long been an inside baseball space that operates in the background of every educational institution across the U.S. and globally. Most of us do not think or worry about it, let alone understand how it works. We simply rely on it as a seal of approval and move on.

While the proposed rulemaking changes to accreditation represent only one of the many shifts and changes in today’s higher education landscape, the impact of these alterations could be major. 

Debate about the effectiveness of accreditation and desire for reform are not new. However, the current shift under the second Trump administration has the potential to be a historic overhaul of accreditation rules and regulations for postsecondary education.

At the heart of the debate is whether accreditation agencies should act as a governmental mechanism for accountability or remain an independent and peer-driven tool for institutional improvement.

What is accreditation?

Think of accreditation as a “stamp of approval” that guarantees a level of quality for the education being offered by the institution. It is a peer-review quality assurance process that confirms that an institution meets established academic quality, financial stability and other operational standards. Accreditors are non-governmental agencies and operate with a degree of autonomy and independence that allows them to evaluate colleges and universities without government interference. There is institutional accreditation, which evaluates the school as a whole, and programmatic accreditation, which evaluates specific degree programs or departments (e.g., nursing, engineering, business, law). 

The peer review process is voluntary and requirements and processes differ based on the accrediting body and/or what is being examined (institution vs. degree), but in general, if a college or university loses its accreditation, there can be detrimental impacts across the institution’s ecosystem – including to currently enrolled students. 

Accrediting bodies may be regional, national or international in scope. Major institutional accreditors in the U.S. include: Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE); New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE); Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU); Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) — now The Commission on Colleges and Universities; WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC); and the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). There is also the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), which focuses on distance-learning and online institutions; ABET, which accredits applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology programs; AACSB International, which accredits business degree programs; the American Bar Association (ABA), which accredits law schools; and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), which accredits nursing education programs, among many others. 

Why does accreditation matter?

Accreditation has many purposes. For students and families as well as faculty and staff, accreditation indicates that an institution has been vetted for quality, academic rigor and financial stability, and therefore, would be a sound choice to pursue studies or employment.

Further, accreditation plays a key role in Title IV federal student aid funding. Institutions must be accredited in order for students to access federal loans and Pell Grants. If a college loses accreditation, immediate impacts include students losing access to federal financial aid; being unable to transfer credits to different universities; and overall questions about the validity and rigor of conferred degrees, which can impact students’ abilities to get jobs after graduation.

The domino effects continue and include drops in enrollment (amid an already precarious enrollment environment across the sector) — which then impacts financial and operational stability, which then affects both faculty and staff employment. Most unaccredited schools will shut down, leaving students to find and apply to new schools (which may not take their credits) and forcing hundreds of faculty and staff out of work. 

The current issue

Earlier this year, the Department of Education, via the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) initiative, reached a consensus on a broad overhaul to accreditation that aligns with a 2025 executive order on the issues. In August, the Department issued a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to move forward with the proposed changes.

These changes are centered around three goals: 

• Eliminating the two-year operating rule, which would make it easier for new accreditors to form and allow institutions to “shop” for accreditors rather than go with historical regional agencies.
• Shifting from DEI to “intellectual diversity,” barring accrediting bodies from requiring DEI standards and instead evaluate how colleges protect free speech, academic freedom and ideological diversity.
• Prioritizing outcomes and ROI, measuring quality through graduate earnings, post-grad ROI, program completion rates and licensure pass rates, among other data.

Opponents to these new rules argue that the consequences of these proposed changes will directly impact students and faculty as well as institutions’ ability to operate. Opponents are also concerned about turning accreditation into a political tool and increasing federal oversight over campus operations, culture and curricula — all of which, they argue, would stifle academic freedom and free speech on campus.

There is also a risk of an increase in predatory practices that would impact students. For example, a college in danger of closing can shop around for an agency to keep its doors open even if it may be in default or poor standing for cause. Predatory institutions may also more easily become accredited and eligible for federal dollars while providing questionable academic services. 

What’s next?

Currently we are in a public comment period, which ends on Sept. 21. The target date for the Department of Education to publish the final regulations is November 2026, and official implementation would take place on July 1, 2027.

Should all the changes go through as outlined, then it is likely new accrediting agencies will emerge quickly. (Already, Florida’s Board of Governors approved the Commission for Public Higher Education in 2025.) However, we should also anticipate legal challenges to the rules.

While we don’t yet know what the impact will be, we’ll be watching to see which universities may make a switch and whether the courts will step in before next July. One thing seems certain: A new landscape of accreditors and providers is well on the horizon.

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