Higher education accreditation creates barriers to entry for innovative start-ups while being a poor gauge of program quality and student outcomes. What began as a voluntary system became a de facto requirement, with accreditors abusing their power. To harness the potential of new learning modes, policymakers should consider meaningful structural changes to this ossified system. Any substantial higher education reform must include accreditation reform: decoupling accreditation from student aid, ending regional monopolies, and inhibiting abuses of power. Addressing these issues would help accreditors to return to quality control while supporting innovation.
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As Congress renews its work on HEA reauthorization, one area of higher education policy is in desperate need of reform: the dysfunctional accreditation system.
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Accreditation is often a costly process for institutions, while offering little quality control, and it increasingly mandates “woke” university policies.
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Congress can take several steps to rectify this situation and return accreditation to its original function as a mechanism for quality assurance and improvement.
This report was originally published by The Heritage Foundation on June 20, 2023.
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.
As a new administration comes into office and Congress begins its first session, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) calls on our representatives to turn their attention to American higher education and finally take decisive action. There is much to be done, but change is most urgently needed in the following five areas: […]
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