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It explains how colleges must satisfy state authorization, U.S. Department of Education standards, and accreditor approval for federal student aid access. It outlines why switching accreditors can improve oversight, reviews state legal approaches, and discusses governance interference and problematic programmatic accreditations, including abuses tied to ideological requirements and DEI-related coercion.",{"@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/policy-brief-how-universities-should-choose-their-next-accreditor/584955/",{"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/policy-brief-how-universities-should-choose-their-next-accreditor/584955.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Sophia Brooks","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","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 do colleges need an accreditor to access federal student aid?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Accreditation is one of the requirements colleges must meet to participate in federal student aid programs. Colleges must also obtain state authorization and meet U.S. Department of Education standards, but accreditor approval is a key third step.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How has the ability to choose accrediting bodies changed in the U.S.?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"New federal flexibility allows colleges to shop for a different accreditor. Under earlier rules, regional accreditors effectively divided oversight areas, but those historically regional accreditors are now described as national.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What should universities look for—or avoid—when selecting an accreditor?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Universities should avoid accreditors with a pattern of interfering with university governance. The brief argues that some accreditors repeatedly abuse authority and uses examples tied to governance disruption and coercive policy pressures.","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},584955,1792062147,{"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":29,"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":144,"preview_page_count":4},962084925636,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","POLICY BRIEF  \nHow Universities Should Choose Their Next Accreditor  \nBy Adam Kissel and Jenna Robinson  \nMarch 12, 2024  \nIntroduction  \nAccreditation is one of the three tickets that every college in America must punch if it wants access to federal student aid (FSA) programs for its students. The current regulatory regime for postsecondary institutions forces each college wanting to participate in FSA programs to get authorization from the state in which it operates, meet the standards set by the U.S. Department of Education, and—strange as it may seem—get a green light from anongovernmental organization called an accreditor.  \nState authorization is enough if a college doesn’t mind asking its students to get loans on the private market, but extremely few colleges (such as Hillsdale College) take that route. Since almost all colleges make themselves subject to the federal government and an accreditor, each of those bodies has tremendous power. Accreditors all too often abuse their authority, as described below. (The Department of Education abuses its power, too, but those examples are for another day.)  \nThe good news is that while American colleges can’t shop for a different federal government, they can shop for a different accreditor. That’s a new development. During the Trump administration, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos instituted new regulations letting any accreditor do business anywhere in the country. Before this change, a small number of accreditors divided up the country into fiefdoms and did not intrude on each other’s turf; they were therefore called regional accreditors. The historically regional accreditors are now all national accreditors.  \nSo, which accreditor should a college choose?  \n1 How Universities Should Choose Their Next Accreditor  \nState of Play  \nBecause the regional accreditors had monopolies for so long, many state laws and regulations default to requiring accreditation by the historically regional accreditor for that state. To provide colleges with a choice, states must change these provisions to align with federal flexibility, as West Virginia did in 2023. An analysis of laws and regulations in the 11 states whose institutions are historically accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) suggests that about one third should make major revisions, one third should make minor revisions, and one third (including North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) already offer the necessary flexibility to allow institutions to switch accreditors.  \nOther states merely require institutional accreditation by any accreditor that is federally recognized or, in some cases, recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, a private-sector organization that vouches for accreditors. In these states, if the state’s regulatory body for postsecondary education has no stray regulations that limit the choice of accreditors, no further action is necessary at the institutional level.  \nAction might still need to be taken at the programmatic level, however. Programs such as law receive special accreditation that is not tied to FSA programs but is essentially required if students want a license to practice their profession. Monopoly programmatic accreditors such as the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) also abuse their power by, for example, imposing radical ideological commitments on students.  \nAs for institutional accreditation, within the set of states that permit a college to choose its own accreditor, Florida and North Carolina stand out. Both states do not merely permit public colleges and universities to choose their own accreditor; they now require a switch.  \nMaking a change of accreditor at regular intervals is good policy. For all colleges, it is valuable to get a fresh set of eyes on their enterprises. This practice is like requiring companies to change financial auditors every so often, so that the institution does not get ","cbCaic4MuuiYJd3E","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaic4MuuiYJd3E","pdf",820166,"English","# Introduction\n## State of Play\n## Action and Programmatic Accreditation\n## Choosing an Accreditor\n## Reaccreditation and Site Visits\n## US Department of Education-Recognized Institutional Accreditors\n## What to Seek and What to Avoid in an Accreditor\n### Governance","[{\"question\":\"Why do colleges need an accreditor to access federal student aid?\",\"answer\":\"Accreditation is one of the requirements colleges must meet to participate in federal student aid programs. Colleges must also obtain state authorization and meet U.S. Department of Education standards, but accreditor approval is a key third step.\"},{\"question\":\"How has the ability to choose accrediting bodies changed in the U.S.?\",\"answer\":\"New federal flexibility allows colleges to shop for a different accreditor. Under earlier rules, regional accreditors effectively divided oversight areas, but those historically regional accreditors are now described as national.\"},{\"question\":\"What should universities look for—or avoid—when selecting an accreditor?\",\"answer\":\"Universities should avoid accreditors with a pattern of interfering with university governance. The brief argues that some accreditors repeatedly abuse authority and uses examples tied to governance disruption and coercive policy pressures.\"}]","POLICY BRIEF - How Universities Should Choose Their Next Accreditor | PDF",1792053110,15]