The College Accreditation Makeover
Bruno V. Manno
February 3, 2026
The typically sedate college accreditation process is a battleground in America’s higher education culture war. That’s because accreditation isn’t just a gold seal on a college website. It’s the switch that turns federal student aid on and off.
Lose it, and the spigot of Pell Grants and federal student loans can close. For many institutions, especially those serving high-need students, that’s an existential problem. So in practice, accreditation functions as one of the most powerful levers in American higher education.
That’s why a process Americans rarely know anything about has become a consequential policy fight in higher education. The gatekeeper to federal money has stepped into the spotlight, pulled there by politics, a growing insistence on measurable outcomes, and a federal approach that treats accreditation less like a closed guild and more like a marketplace.
From Low-Key to High-Stakes Politics
Accreditation is typically a once-a-decade quality assurance process. It’s regional, peer-driven, and largely invisible. The bargain is straightforward. Private nonprofit accreditors recognized by the U.S. Department of Education set minimum standards, and the federal government provides aid only to institutions that pass through that gate.
