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It explains how third-party accreditation affects federal student loan authorization and state authorization to operate. It then reviews state-by-state legal and regulatory barriers, showing where laws default to SACS and proposing revisions to align state practice with federal flexibility.",{"@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-its-time-for-more-states-to-sack-sacs-action-and-recommendations/584954/",{"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-its-time-for-more-states-to-sack-sacs-action-and-recommendations/584954.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":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is accreditation critical for colleges in the United States?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Accreditation provides third-party validation that minimum standards are met. It is required for participation in federal student loan programs, and without accreditation, authorization to operate in a state is difficult or impossible.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What change enabled regional accreditors to operate nationally?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Department of Education made it easier for any regional accreditor to operate anywhere in the country, turning historically regional accreditors into national accreditors.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the brief recommend states do regarding SACS?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"States should revise laws or policies that default to SACS so colleges can choose any accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, updating regulations to remove mandatory SACS references and ensure equal treatment.","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},584954,1792209566,{"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":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"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":46,"preview_page_count":4},962084925636,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","POLICY BRIEF  \nIt’s Time for More States to Sack SACS  \nby Adam Kissel 1  \nIntroduction  \nGetting and keeping accreditation is critical for almost all colleges in the United States. Accreditation is third-party validation that a college meets minimum standards. Not only is institutional accreditation required for participation in federal student loan programs, but without accreditation, it is hard (if not impossible) to be authorized to operate in a state.  \nUntil recently, institutional accreditation was controlled by a cartel of “regional” accreditors that had divided the country into six regions. Accreditors would not trespass into each other’s turf.2 As a result, they each had monopoly power.  \nAll too often, they have abused their power. The most common abuses of power have been in the area of university governance, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) has abused its power most often. SACS, which historically has accredited colleges in 11 states, has intervened in the decisions of several of them. Accreditors also are becoming increasingly brazen in pushing colleges ideologically.  \n1. The author acknowledges the important contributions of Giana DePaul in identifying material used in this report.  \n2. “National” accreditors have been available as alternatives for the purpose of access to federal loan programs, but various state laws and policies and some institutions do not give equal treatment to students arriving from colleges with “national” instead of “regional” accreditation.  \n1 Policy Brief  \nFortunately, however, under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Department of Education made it easy for any regional accreditor to operate anywhere in the country—making these historically regional accreditors into national accreditors. Florida and North Carolina have taken advantage of this new federal flexibility by requiring public institutions of higher education to leave SACS and choose a new accreditor.  \nIn order to follow suit, some states also must change their laws or regulations so that no provisions default to a single accreditor. West Virginia, for example, had administrative regulations that defaulted to an accreditor called the Higher Learning Commission, but legislators passed a law to ensure that any college in the state could choose any accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.  \nThe following table shows which states that are historically in SACS’s region should act to align state laws or regulations with federal flexibility in choosing accreditors. Details are provided below.  \nAlabama  \nAlabama needs to update its code to align with federal flexibility in accreditation.  \nFor example, every site of a public college in Alabama “must be in full compliance with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools/Commission on Colleges (SACS/COC) guidelines and criteria pertaining to curriculum, faculty, administration, equipment, learning resources and student services”(§300-2-1-.05(6)) .  \nOut-of-state institutions, however, may operate in Alabama if they are accredited and in  \n2 Policy Brief  \ncompliance with the standards of any accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (§300-2-1-.02(5)) .3 An unaccredited out-of-state institution may operate in Alabama if it passes a review undertaken by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) (§300-2-1-.02(3)) . It appears that technical colleges wishing to offer an Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree, however, must be accredited by the SACS Commission on Colleges (§300-2-1-.01(n)) .  \nTo provide choice in accreditation, Alabama legislators should remove all references to SACSand should treat in-state colleges the same as out-of-state colleges by letting any college choose any accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Then, ACHE should update its policies to ensure that no language defaults to SACSCOC.  \nFlorida  \nIn Florida, private colleges must be accredited by SACS (§1005","cbCaiqE0g2yrvNew","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqE0g2yrvNew","pdf",1080132,"English","# Introduction\n## Federal flexibility and accreditation governance\n# State-by-state alignment proposals\n## Alabama\n## Florida\n## Georgia","[{\"question\":\"Why is accreditation critical for colleges in the United States?\",\"answer\":\"Accreditation provides third-party validation that minimum standards are met. It is required for participation in federal student loan programs, and without accreditation, authorization to operate in a state is difficult or impossible.\"},{\"question\":\"What change enabled regional accreditors to operate nationally?\",\"answer\":\"Under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Department of Education made it easier for any regional accreditor to operate anywhere in the country, turning historically regional accreditors into national accreditors.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the brief recommend states do regarding SACS?\",\"answer\":\"States should revise laws or policies that default to SACS so colleges can choose any accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, updating regulations to remove mandatory SACS references and ensure equal treatment.\"}]","POLICY BRIEF - It’s Time for More States to Sack SACS - Action and recommendations | PDF",1792053098]