In a campaign video during hismost recent run for the presidency, President Trump called the college accreditation system his “secret weapon” in his plan to reshape higher education.
The Trump administration took aim at the accreditation process Wednesday: The federal Education Department sent a letter to the accreditation agency that oversees Columbia University, writing that the school has violated civil rights laws.
While the Trump administration has made multiple attacks on Harvard University, the president has not aggressively gone after Harvard’s accreditation. But the little-known nonprofit that accredits Harvard and other colleges in the region remains a potential point of leverage in the president’s efforts to expand his influence over higher education.
Here are the basics about Harvard’s accreditation.
Organizations to certify the quality of US colleges and universities have existed for more than a century.
For instance, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the accrediting body for Columbia University, was born in 1887, while the The New England Commission of Higher Education, which accredits Harvard University, began in 1885.
But the true power of these organizations arose in the wake of World War II. The GI Bill provided returning veterans with money for college tuition. Scammers established a host of fly-by-night schools in a bid to cash in on the program. So in 1952, Congress enacted legislation requiring that GI Bill money could be spent only at accredited colleges.
In 1965, Congress passed the Higher Education Act, which provided federal loans and grants to millions more US college students, but only if they went to accredited schools. Since then, accreditation has become vital to the financial viability of nearly all colleges.
The New England Commission of Higher Education accredits Harvard, according to the university’s website.
Harvard was last accredited in 2018, and in 2022 it submitted an interim accreditation report, which was accepted. Harvard says on its website that its next comprehensive accreditation process is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2027.
The New England Commission of Higher Education was established in 1885 and accredits more than 200 higher education institutions.
Currently, 32 people sit on the New England Commission of Higher Education. The commissioners, who serve three-year terms, are a combination of New England university leaders and members of the general public.
Accreditation is done for all colleges and universities in the United States by private nonprofits — though the organizations need to be recognized by the federal secretary of education. Nationally, there are seven accrediting commissions.
Schools are evaluated for reaccreditation every 10 years against a set of standards that measure the institution’s finances, academics, and policies.
Kyle Beltramini, policy research fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, said that to keep its accreditation, Columbia University must comply with federal law. But the Trump administration claims that Columbia has tolerated antisemitic activity in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. These alleged violations have been reported to the accrediting agency, which is required by law to conduct an investigation.
If the accrediting agency finds that the university violated the law, it can order the school to correct the violation or face loss of accreditation. Negotiations over bringing the school into compliance would probably take a while, Beltramini said.
The federal government has no direct authority over the accrediting agency and can’t force it to take action. But Beltramini said that if it doesn’t, the federal government could seek to revoke its accreditation authority. This could mean that students at previously accredited schools would no longer be eligible to receive federal aid.
Institutions have to be accredited by a recognized accrediting agency for their students to receive federal student aid, including grants, loans, and work study.
Without accreditation, schools cannot make their students eligible for federal financial aid, which most students rely on to cover tuition.
All higher education institutions, regardless of whether they are public or private or where in the country they are located, need to be accredited in order for their students to receive federal financial aid.
There’s nothing in the accreditation system that would limit Trump to only challenging Harvard or other Ivy League institutions.
This piece was originally published by the Boston Globe on June 5, 2025.
Accrediting agencies are tasked with providing a level of quality assurance for higher education. With an accreditor’s stamp of approval, colleges unlock access to billions of dollars in Title IV funding—federal loans, grants, and campus-based aid. Unfortunately, accreditors do not consistently deliver on their role and fail to hold institutions accountable for poor student outcomes.
President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to shake up the arcane but pivotal world of college accreditation, a move Trump has called his “secret weapon” in his bid to remake higher education.
The failure of Congress to reform the Higher Education Act since its last reauthorization in 2008 has had devastating consequences for America’s students and taxpayers. For too long, the federal response to rising costs and dismal completion rates has been to throw more money at the problem.
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