How accreditors are navigating a new, anxious environment under Trump
Ben Unglesbee
May 29, 2025
In April, President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders related to higher education. One centers on the accreditation process that the federal government relies on for vetting colleges that receive billions of dollars in student aid.
Since the campaign trail, Trump has held accreditors in his sights. In 2023, he vowed to “fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.”
In his April order, the rhetoric was only slightly less heated. Trump described the organizations as having “abused their enormous authority” and failed in their roles as gatekeepers.
