How the Right Twists Accreditation
Right-wing media often misrepresent accreditation, amplifying political attacks and fueling confusion about a higher education safeguard.
Mythbusting Accreditation
New America breaks down the political attacks against a crucial part of the U.S. higher education accountability system.
In recent years, prominent political figures, including President Donald Trump, have escalated attacks against the American system of college accreditation. They have cast accreditors as partisans, falsely claiming they control campus curricula and culture, and act to preserve a liberal ideological order in higher education.
Accreditors in reality evaluate whether colleges should have access to student financial aid, a $120 billion money pot the federal government circulates annually. Most colleges rely on this funding to keep their doors open. And so accreditors are critical gatekeepers, ensuring scam or low-performing colleges can’t fund themselves with taxpayer dollars.
The framework is far from perfect. But accreditors are not the progressive boogeymen conservatives depict them as. Their claims are fueling misinformation about accreditors, at a time when the Trump administration is remaking the system wholesale.
Mythbusting Accreditation is a New America written and multimedia series that explains the truth of what accreditors do and how they function, and features analysis, frequently asked questions, and interviews with experts across the field.
Written Primers
Accreditation 101
What is college accreditation? This explainer breaks down how it works, why it exists, and its role in higher education.
Audio Interviews
Why Accreditation Exists: A Q&A with Antoinette Flores
Antoinette Flores, director of higher education accountability at New America, outlines the importance of accreditation in the first episode in the series.
The Future of Accreditation: A Q&A with Jan Friis
New America’s Jeremy Bauer-Wolf talked with Jan Friis of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) about how the accreditation system works and how the federal government plans to change it.
Misrepresenting Accreditation: A Q&A with Melissa Ryan
New America’s Jeremy Bauer-Wolf speaks with disinformation expert Melissa Ryan about how the right can inflame certain topics in the media.