An Overview of Accreditation of Higher Education in the United States (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised April 12, 2024 |
| Report Number |
R43826 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Alexandra Hegji, Analyst in Social Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) authorizes programs that provide financial assistance
to students to assist them in obtaining a postsecondary education at certain institutions of higher
education (IHEs). IHEs wishing to participate in Title IV federal student aid (FSA) programs
must meet several requirements, including being accredited by an agency recognized by the
Department of Education (ED) as a reliable authority on the quality of the education being
offered.
There are three general types of accrediting agencies, each of which serves a specific purpose.
Regional accrediting agencies operate in six regions of the United States and concentrate their
reviews on IHEs within specific regions of the country. National accrediting agencies operate
across the United States and review institutions with a common theme (e.g., religiously affiliated
institutions). Finally, programmatic accrediting agencies operate nationwide and review programs
and single-purpose institutions.
The accreditation process is voluntary and must be requested by educational institutions or
programs. While accrediting agencies’ review processes are guided, in part, by federal
requirements, specific procedures for reviews are adopted by the individual agencies and vary
among them. In general, however, the review process begins with an institutional self-assessment,
then an institution is reviewed by an outside team of peers primarily composed of higher
education faculty and practitioners, and finally, a comprehensive report is submitted by the team
of peers to the accrediting agency, which then makes an accreditation determination.
Although the federal government relies on accrediting agencies to evaluate the quality of
education offered at IHEs, the HEA and ED regulations provide a variety of requirements that
accrediting agencies must meet to be recognized by ED. Key provisions require that accrediting
agencies
meet general membership requirements (e.g., agencies must have a voluntary
membership of IHEs);
consistently apply and enforce standards that ensure the education programs,
training, or courses of study offered are of sufficient quality to meet the stated
objective for which they are offered;
use review standards that assess student achievement in relation to the
institution’s mission, including, as applicable, course completion, passage of state
licensing examinations, and job placement rates;
evaluate, among other considerations, an institution’s or program’s curricula,
faculty, facilities, and fiscal and administrative capacity; and
meet due process requirements with respect to the institutions and programs they
accredit.
Congress may wish to focus on several issues related to accreditation as it considers HEA
reauthorization. These issues may include further development of institutional quality measures,
the potential to restructure or streamline the accreditation system, accreditation’s role in the
changing higher education landscape, and transparency and potential conflicts of interest in the
accreditation process.
