Trump wields his 'secret weapon': College accreditation

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/07/12/trump-college-accreditation-political-influence/

Trump wields his ‘secret weapon’: College accreditation
The administration is trying to make good on Trump’s campaign promise to use accreditation, a critical stamp of approval for colleges, to remake higher education.
July 12, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel

President Donald Trump and his allies are using a little-known but powerful corner of higher education — college accreditation — to exert pressure on colleges and universities, an effort that threatens the independence of accreditors and the stability of the institutions they approve.

Accrediting agencies, which have existed for more than a century, determine whether colleges meet standards of quality by evaluating every aspect of their finances, operations and student achievement. If a college lacks an accreditor’s seal of approval, its students cannot obtain the federal education loans and grants that are the lifeblood of many schools.

This week, the Education and Health and Human Services departments encouraged Harvard University’s accreditor to take action against the Ivy League school for allegedly violating the civil rights of Jewish students. The New England Commission of Higher Education, which accredits Harvard, said it has given the university until Aug. 15 to respond and will take up the matter at a previously scheduled meeting in September.

The administration took a similar step in early June over Columbia University’s alleged civil rights violations. By the end of June, Columbia’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, issued the school a noncompliance warning. Middle States did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The government works with more than 60 accreditation agencies. Every five years, each accreditor is reviewed by the Education Department to assess its effectiveness in ensuring the quality of the schools in its purview. If an accreditor lacks the recognition of the Education Department, it loses the power to act as the gatekeeper to billions of dollars in federal financial aid.

While the Trump administration has no direct control over whether the schools remain accredited, it could punish accreditors for failing to act by stripping them of the authority needed to operate. And a recent move by the Education Department is raising questions about whether the administration is dangling that possibility over Harvard and Columbia’s accreditors.

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