At CHEA, Kent Blames Accreditors for Higher Ed’s Woes
Josh Moody
January 28, 2026
The education undersecretary argued that accreditors have largely failed to hold colleges accountable and pledged to make reforms.
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump called accreditation his “secret weapon.” Now, a year into his second term, education under secretary Nicholas Kent is the one wielding that weapon.
In year one, the Trump administration sought to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion as part of accreditation standards and steered money toward new market entrants. But in year two, the federal government appears poised to ramp up its efforts to overhaul accreditation by rewriting current regulations this spring, as announced Monday.
On Tuesday, Kent offered more insights into what lies ahead in remarks at the Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s annual conference, held in Washington, D.C. Kent has previously accused accreditors of failing to hold flailing institutions accountable for poor student outcomes and cast such agencies as “a tool for political and ideological enforcement,” and he repeated those themes Tuesday as he laid out plans for the coming accreditation overhaul.
