Why Is Accreditation Important?

Advisors nearly unanimously encourage prospective college students to apply to accredited colleges and universities.

However, that advice alone fails to answer an important question: Why is accreditation important? College accreditation is a complex — and often obtuse — process, and it can be difficult for the unacquainted to understand why accreditation is important.

Cynthia Jackson Hammond, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), told Accredited Schools Online that there is immense value in the U.S. college accreditation system. While some prefer to fixate on the system’s perceived flaws, she stressed that accreditation is meant to serve students above all.

“Without evidence, students [and] families can be deceived by bad institutional actors, thus causing students to lose their financial investment, time, and future career options,” she said.

The primary benefits of college accreditation include offering quality assurance, creating value for future employers, and allowing students to access financial aid.

Before you hand over thousands of dollars to a college or university, you will want some assurance that the money will pay off.

“Anyone can start a school and say that they are offering a good education,” Robert Shireman, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, told ASO. “It can be difficult for a consumer to judge whether a school actually has the faculty that has the expertise in the areas being taught.”

Accreditors essentially hand down pass-fail assessments to let students and families know whether an institution has the necessary components and resources to provide a genuine education. That doesn’t necessarily mean the education will be enriching, but accreditation acts as a line of defense against predatory colleges.

Agencies check in regularly to ensure that institutions maintain their standards.

Shireman said the third-party nature of accreditors helps add to the system’s value. Having agencies approved by — but not run by — the federal government protects against intrusion into academic affairs.

“It has played a key role in the independence of our higher education system from the kind of meddling that occurs in countries like Hungary, China, and Russia,” he said.

There are more than 6,000 colleges and universities in the U.S.

Employers can’t be expected to know the ins and outs of each and every institution. So, they often rely on accrediting agencies to do this legwork for them.

A manager comparing two job candidates may check the accreditation status of each candidate’s alma mater. All other qualifications being equal, the candidate with a degree from an accredited institution has a better chance of getting the job than the candidate from an institution that lacks accreditation.

Some employers may reject a job application outright if the candidate’s school is not accredited.

“Accreditation by a recognized accreditor is important for students and families because the institution’s accreditation signifies that the institution has met rigorous standards of academic accountability,” Jackson Hammond said. “A nonaccredited institution is also very suspect to potential employers and professional schools.”

Many licensing bodies require graduates to have attended an accredited program to be recognized, especially for master’s degree and doctoral degree programs.

Financial aid is an integral part of the college experience, with approximately 85% of full-time, first-year undergraduate students receiving some type of financial aid in the 2022-2023 academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Students cannot receive most forms of financial aid unless they attend a college or university accredited by an agency that’s recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

Martha Mock, executive director of the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council (IHEAC), created her accreditation agency with this in mind — there currently is no accreditor for college programs for students with intellectual disabilities, so these students have missed out on many opportunities for federal and state financial aid. IHEAC is currently undergoing the process of becoming a federally recognized accreditor.

Mock said that every program IHEAC would ultimately accredit would open the door to education for students who otherwise couldn’t afford it.

“This is a game changer for our programs,” she told ASO.

This also means that while accreditation is technically a voluntary process, the overwhelming majority of institutions in the U.S. pursue it. Without it, the pool of prospective students shrinks considerably.

While these aren’t the primary purposes of accreditation, the system accomplishes other goals, too.

Colleges and universities are significantly more likely to accept credits from another institution if that school holds regional accreditation.

Ultimately, each institution gets to decide whether they want to accept prior credit.

Higher education leaders, including Jackson Hammond, encouraged university leaders in a December 2021 joint letter not to deny credit awards based on the type of accreditation of the sending institution. So long as the school is accredited by an agency recognized by ED or CHEA, the college should accept that credit, she cowrote.

Additionally, accreditors can push schools to accept credits from alternative sources, such as through competency-based approaches.

If you aspire to eventually earn a master’s or doctoral degree, you should ensure that the bachelor’s degree program you enroll in is accredited by an ED-recognized agency.

Virtually all graduate programs require not only that an applicant have a bachelor’s degree but also that the bachelor’s degree comes from an accredited institution. Many baccalaureate programs don’t have programmatic accreditation, so you likely just need to ensure that the college or university has institutional accreditation.

Accreditation standards can get more granular if you pursue a doctorate.

Eligibility restrictions may require you to have a master’s degree from a program accredited by a specific programmatic accreditor. For example, a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program might require you to have earned a nursing master’s degree from a program accredited by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN).

“There are a lot of different programmatic accreditors, some of which have more credibility than others,” Shireman said.

Accreditation standards help new colleges and programs form.

Mock said an accreditation agency’s standards can serve as a baseline for fledgling programs, especially in the niche sector of programs for students with intellectual disabilities. Rather than starting with a blank slate, administrators have a blueprint for how to create a new program and what elements are needed.

“They are the agreed-upon standards in this area,” Mock said. “So if they’re building a program, they’re going to go to these standards.”

It also helps ensure quality from the get-go: New institutions and programs can install beneficial systems from the beginning rather than wait for feedback from an accreditor.

Mock added that a stamp of approval from an accreditor can help programs grow within an institution.

“All of the accredited programs have spoken about not only the benefits of going through the [accreditation] process but also of the renewed interest and new awareness within their institution that they previously had not had,” she said.

A jury of peers reviewing an institution or program and giving a thumbs-up also leads to an increase in applications. The layperson understands the importance of accreditation, she said, and so a program often sees an uptick in interest once a program is officially accredited.

“Somebody else other than who is running the program has looked at it and agreed that the college or university is supporting its students,” Mock said.