Overhauling higher-education accreditation could be on the agenda for conservative lawmakers and policy mavens now that Donald J. Trump has been re-elected president.

Trump and his allies have floated a number of changes, such as barring accreditors from requiring that colleges adhere to diversity, equity, and inclusion standards. Republicans have also proposed creating new accrediting agencies that promote conservative values and allowing state governments to take on the role of accreditors.

Colleges have to be accredited for their students to be eligible for federal student aid, such as loans issued by the Education Department and Pell Grants for students from low-income families. That role as a gatekeeper of federal dollars has put accreditors in the crosshairs of groups across the ideological spectrum that see the organizations as a barrier to change and improvement.

Project 2025, a policy wishlist written by a constellation of conservative groups that support Trump, described accreditation reviews as “wildly expensive audits by academic ‘peers’ that stifle innovation and discourage new institutions of higher education.”

Worse, the report contends, is that accrediting agencies force colleges to adopt DEI standards that may conflict with private colleges’ religious missions and fail to uphold standards for freedom of speech. The solution, the authors argue, is to limit what accreditors can require only to what is contained in federal law. Trump has gone a step further, calling for the creation of new accreditors that would “defend the American tradition and Western civilization.”

Robert Shireman, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, warned that the Trump administration’s proposed overhaul of accreditation would weaken academic freedom by allowing the federal government to intrude into what kinds of courses are required and how they would be taught.

Even without new laws or regulations, Shireman said in an email, the Education Department could undertake a series of punitive investigations of existing accreditors, meant to pressure them legally and politically to limit their oversight of colleges. At worst, he wrote, federal officials could try to remove an accreditor’s recognition, forcing its member colleges to seek accreditation with another organization.

Much of Trump’s sweeping accreditation vision would take considerable time, require legislation or new regulations, and likely be challenged in court.

But any changes would be disruptive, at the very least, and the cost to accrediting agencies and the colleges that support them through membership fees could be significant, policy experts say. More importantly, the chaos could cast a shadow of uncertainty for students concerned whether the colleges they attend will remain accredited.

How Accreditation Became Political

Bashing accreditation has generally been a bipartisan exercise. Democrats have tended to criticize accrediting agencies for being too slow to take action against colleges with low graduation rates or those that leave students with high levels of student debt, especially in the for-profit sector.

Republicans have criticized accreditors for favoring traditional programs over start-ups and technological innovations, and overreaching by requiring institutions to uphold governance standards that necessitate faculty involvement or guard against partisan meddling in academic matters.

Critics on both sides of the partisan divide complain that higher-education accreditation is not driving big improvements in student outcomes.

“A real overhaul is long overdue,” said Michael B. Poliakoff, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a nonpartisan group that typically endorses conservative views and has long argued for greater restrictions on accreditors’ oversight. “We can get to the point where the educational options are wholesome for everybody instead of one where students are incentivized to go into programs where they are not likely to succeed.”

Accreditation is important but wonky. For decades, it had not made headlines or attracted politicians’ attention. That changed when an accreditor crossed paths with Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In 2022, the Florida Republican and his allies in the Legislature pushed through a bill requiring the state’s public colleges to seek a new accrediting agency. DeSantis’s move came after the accreditor for Florida’s public institutions, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, raised concerns about Republican political interference and conflicts of interest at the state’s two best-known universities.