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It describes how accrediting agencies have operated with cartel-like control, driving costs and restricting innovation through burdensome mandates. The document criticizes a focus on inputs over student outcomes and highlights how sanctions and programmatic accreditation requirements can raise tuition while rarely penalizing poor educational performance.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/blueprint-for-reform-accreditation-why-is-accreditation-reform-needed/584989/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/blueprint-for-reform-accreditation-why-is-accreditation-reform-needed/584989.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Sophia Brooks","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is accreditation reform needed in higher education?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Accreditation shifted from a voluntary “best practices” signal to a gatekeeping mechanism for federal funding, growing into a regulatory system that imposes burdensome mandates on schools.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How do accrediting agencies’ structures affect institutions and innovation?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The document argues agencies can operate like a cartel, limiting institutional choice and using excessive demands that raise costs, restrict creativity, and reduce flexibility for regional needs.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the document say about what accreditors evaluate?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It states accreditors often emphasize inputs—such as spending per student and reputational factors—rather than outputs like how much students learn and how well they are prepared for the workplace.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},584989,1793136841,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},962084925636,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","BLUEPRINT FOR REFORM  \nAccreditation  \nQuis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchers?)—Juvenal  \n“Accreditation has played a role in the bloat that has taken place in higher education administration, and it is time to right size bureaucracy and allow institutions to redirect their resources to students and teaching.” —Betsy DeVos1  \nWhy is accreditation reform needed?  \nCollege accreditation began as a voluntary means to advise American institutions of higher education on “best practices.”Additionally, it signaled to prospective students and their parents that the accredited school offered a quality education. Its presence in the grand scheme of academia was minimal, but this light touch ended with the passage of the 1965 Higher Education Act.2 The new law changed accreditors’ roles by making them the gatekeepers for higher education’s federal funding. That is, institutional accreditation began to be  \n1. Federal Register,“Student Assistance General Provisions, The Secretary's Recognition of Accrediting Agencies, The Secretary's Recognition Procedures for State Agencies,” Nov. 1, 2019.  \n2. Education Next,“College Accreditation, Explained,”Jun. 13, 2018.  \nrequired for schools to participate in student financial-aid programs or to receive federal research grants. Since then, accreditation has grown into a powerful regulatory apparatus that demands schools conform to burdensome government mandates.3  \nMoreover, accrediting agencies have been allowed to operate as a cartel in the decades since. There are currently six institutional agencies; until recently, institutions were assigned to accreditors by location. Colleges and universities could not choose a different accreditor even if their regional agency proved unsatisfactory. This permitted the agencies to put excessive demands on schools, driving up costs and forcing the imposition of politically inspired policies.  \n3. To read more from the Martin Center about accreditation reform, visit: [https://www.jamesgmartin.center/tag/](https://www.jamesgmartin.center/tag/)[ ](https://www.jamesgmartin.center/tag/)[accreditation/.](accreditation/.)  \n1 Blueprint for Reform  \n2 Blueprint for Reform  \nGathering information for the accreditation process can be time-consuming and expensive, but the real cost comes when colleges comply with accreditation mandates. Former University of Florida president John V. Lombardi noted,“[Accreditors] blackmail us. If they say your department of astrophysics needs 12 spaceshipsand you have only 10, you had better get the other two.”4  \nFurthermore, this cartel-like status permits the accrediting agencies to stifle creativity, innovation, and regional specialization in higher education. The costs and mandates they impose are a high hurdle for new institutions and programs. If institutions wish to receive federal funding, they must be accredited by the U.S. Department of Education (through the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, a board convened by the Department) .5 This gives the accrediting agencies powerful incentives to promote policies favored by the federal education bureaucracy and reduces the advantage of allowing states to serve their constituents’ specific geographic needs.  \nDespite considerable regulatory authority, regional accrediting agencies seem to do little to improve education at the vast majority of academic institutions. Malcolm Gillis, former Rice University president, noted,“The accreditors are not interested in what or how the students learn, but how many square feet of classroom space we have per student.”6 Few schools are  \n4. William Honen,“Some Say College Accreditation Is Out of Control,” New York Times, Nov. 11, 1998.  \n5. The Center for American Progress,“The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity: Overview and Resources,” Feb. 22, 2023.  \n6. Andrew Gillen, The Case for Escape Hatches from Higher Education Accreditation, Texas Public Policy Foundation, ","cbCaiduwA1j2nDmV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiduwA1j2nDmV","pdf",990341,"English","# Why is accreditation reform needed?\n## Origins of accreditation and federal gatekeeping\n## Cartel-like control by accrediting agencies\n## Costs, mandates, and incentives\n## Focus on inputs vs. student outcomes\n## Sanctions and programmatic accreditation impacts","[{\"question\":\"Why is accreditation reform needed in higher education?\",\"answer\":\"Accreditation shifted from a voluntary “best practices” signal to a gatekeeping mechanism for federal funding, growing into a regulatory system that imposes burdensome mandates on schools.\"},{\"question\":\"How do accrediting agencies’ structures affect institutions and innovation?\",\"answer\":\"The document argues agencies can operate like a cartel, limiting institutional choice and using excessive demands that raise costs, restrict creativity, and reduce flexibility for regional needs.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the document say about what accreditors evaluate?\",\"answer\":\"It states accreditors often emphasize inputs—such as spending per student and reputational factors—rather than outputs like how much students learn and how well they are prepared for the workplace.\"}]","Blueprint for Reform - Accreditation - Why is accreditation reform needed? | PDF",1792053198]