The Department of Education recently announced that they would be reviewing Columbia University’s accreditation, leading many students to ask the important question: what is college accreditation? This is a reasonable question, as this is something students generally have never needed to worry about.
In this article, we’re going to explore what college accreditation is, and how it works. We’re going to explain how it matters, and what might happen if a university loses its accreditation. As always, our goal is to help you understand how the news you see in headlines may impact your own academic journey, and whether any of this is something you need to be concerned about. Let’s get started!
Understanding College Accreditation
Theoretically, any group of people can get together and open up a college tomorrow. But how can you be sure that “Fast Dave’s Cash-4-Gold and MBA Degrees” is a reputable institution? This was a problem for a while in the US, and was first addressed in the late 19th century. This began as regional bodies set up by colleges themselves, who had a vested interest in ensuring the quality of a college degree. After all, if one college churns out degrees that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, then businesses may begin to doubt the quality of a college education in general.
The federal government became more involved in the process after WWII, when the GI Bill sent thousands of veterans to college in the 1950s. The government, reasonably, didn’t want their money being wasted; they saw this bill as an investment in creating a large group of educated people. These co-opted the existing regional accreditation system.
How it works currently is that there are both regional and national accrediting organizations, a college may apply to any of them for accreditation. These are nonprofit organizations, and review what a school offers, ensuring that it actually delivers the training it purports to. Traditionally, non-profit and traditional colleges were accredited by regional accreditors, while for-profit and vocational schools were accredited by national ones. While the distinction between regional and national was technically removed in 2020, the distinction remains.
There have been some criticisms of the system, with critics pointing out that it is both overly complicated and rather lax. Indeed, this is a common critique leveled at for-profit institutions, which manage to get accredited in spite of the limited educational benefits they actually offer to students. In spite of this, accreditation remains a very important system, and universities work hard to make sure they maintain this status. You can see Columbia’s report on this for this past academic year here, for an example.
Does Accreditation Matter to Students?
Kind of. Schools that aren’t accredited are generally seen as untrustworthy. Indeed, when a number of for-profit colleges lost their accreditation in 2022, it forced them to shutter. This was done after the Department of Education determined that the schools were not offering the benefits advertised, and were misleading students in order to get them to apply.
Note that in this case, the Department of Education did not remove the schools’ accreditation directly; this is because it can’t. Instead, it ended its relationship with the accreditation organization that vouched for these schools. The Department of Education is one step removed from the accreditation process, but is still a key component of it.
If a school loses its accreditation, this impacts students in two ways. First, and most disastrously, the school is cut off from receiving any federal aid. This includes federally subsidized and backed loans, Pell Grants, GI benefits, work-study funding, and other government aid. Since this money (especially loans) is how many students are able to afford to attend colleges, the loss of it makes remaining at an unaccredited college untenable.
In the past, the administration has taken steps to forgive loan debts to students who attended for-profit colleges which have lost their accreditation. This was done under the assumption that it was not the student’s fault they were misled by these colleges. It is uncertain if this policy will continue however.
The other way accreditation impacts students is in finding jobs. A degree from a non-accredited school is seen as not worth much. In the past, accreditation was often revoked because it was found these degrees were not worth much anyway, so revoking accreditation simply aligned regulation with reality. It is uncertain how businesses would react if a well established and respected school had its accreditation revoked; after all, this is not a situation we have ever encountered before.
Columbia, Accreditation, and You
The most important thing to note is that the administration is not able to revoke Columbia’s accreditation themselves. This is reviewed and granted by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a regional organization that accredits colleges in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. All the Department of Education can do currently is request that this organization review Columbia’s status in response to concerns by the Department.
The concerns the administration has raised relate back to ongoing worries about antisemitism on campus, the same concerns that have fueled much of the current administration’s disputes with Columbia, Harvard, and other top universities. Columbia has stated that they have addressed the administration’s concerns with their accreditors directly.
This is an event meant to grab headlines, but is unlikely to have any significant impacts on students attending Columbia, or on those who are considering applying to it. The loss of accreditation is often fatal to a university, but this is not something the government can affect directly. This is, however, another lever they can pull in an attempt to influence Columbia’s policy and actions, and the Department of Education may take steps to require further action from accreditors as a whole to support their agenda.
Final Thoughts
Educational policy is something that doesn’t make the news often, and generally not something that impacts students directly. We are, however, living in interesting times, and that means the government’s actions can impact individual students, and where you end up applying to and attending college. We hope that this article has clarified what these latest headlines mean for you, and alleviated any concerns you might have had.
Applying to college is never an easy task, but when the field of admissions is shifting so rapidly, it becomes even more of a challenge. When navigating any kind of difficult terrain, a guide makes life easier, helping you avoid pitfalls and snares, and showing you the path to success. This is exactly what Ivy Scholars does for the students we work with, helping them navigate the difficulties of college admissions and gain access to the schools of their dreams. Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can make your life easier. We’ve helped hundreds of students on the path to college, and are always happy to hear from you.
