The U.S. Department of Education said on Thursday that it will accelerate the process for colleges and universities to switch accreditors, eliminating what officials called “unnecessary requirements” that hinder institutional innovation.
In the letter, the department said it would no longer scrutinize the underlying reasons institutions provide for changing accreditors and would expedite the review of such requests.
“The law and regulation do not dictate a robust or onerous process for receiving the Department’s approval for a change in accrediting agencies or maintaining multiple accreditation,” Bergeron wrote. “Therefore ... the Department will conduct expeditious reviews of applications received, except in rare cases where an institution lacks a reasonable cause for making a change.”
Colleges may now seek new accreditors for a variety of reasons, including closer alignment with religious values, compliance with state laws, a shift in the type of academic programs offered, or objection to DEI-related accreditation criteria. If the department does not respond to a complete application within 30 days, the request will be automatically approved unless specific legal prohibitions apply.
With the new guidance, the department formally revoked 2022 Biden-era guidance that had exerted more scrutiny over changing accreditors, which was prompted in part by a Florida law requiring its 40 public colleges and universities to change accreditors every 10 years. At the time, the Biden administration justified the added scrutiny by arguing that institutions might attempt to avoid accountability from existing accreditors by switching to more lenient ones.
‘We must foster a competitive marketplace both amongst accreditors and colleges and universities in order to lower college costs and refocus postsecondary education on improving academic and workforce outcomes for students and families,” she said.
In the April 23 executive order, Trump criticizes major accrediting agencies for misplaced priorities. Despite rising student debt, stagnant graduation rates, and poor labor market outcomes for many graduates, he said, accreditors have remained “improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology.”
The order singled out two accrediting bodies by name: the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits medical schools; and the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which accredits law schools. Both agencies include accreditation standards requiring schools to actively pursue a racially diverse student body—provisions Trump criticized as violations of civil rights laws that prohibit race-based discrimination in education.
“Federal recognition will not be provided to accreditors engaging in unlawful discrimination,” Trump wrote, directing McMahon to hold agencies accountable by denying, suspending, or terminating their recognition if they “fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law.”
The order also includes a provision directing McMahon to ensure that “institutions support and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning.”
Some accreditors welcomed the new guidance. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), which accredits more than 500 institutions, including Princeton, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins Universities, said the changes will support its efforts to streamline the process for institutions seeking to switch accreditors.
“As an accreditor with institutions that have been stalled in the process, this guidance will have a positive impact on the work we have been doing with several institutions. We look forward to helping our institutions understand what this may mean for them and for us,” MSCHE President Heather Perfetti wrote. “We appreciate that there are well-defined restrictions that will not allow for institutions to change accreditors to avoid accountability with an existing accreditor.”
