President Donald Trump signed a new executive order into action on April 23, promising a reform of which colleges and universities are accredited — that status that verifies whether an institution meets specific educational standards or not.
Accreditation not only verifies that the practices within a school are legitimate, but it also determines if a school is eligible for federal grants or loans, according to Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Both schools and individual programs within schools are eligible for accreditation.
President Trump’s executive order, titled “Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education,” states that accreditors often approve schools with low graduation rates. It also finds fault with schools that promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.
“A group of higher education accreditors are the gatekeepers that decide which colleges and universities American students can spend the more than $100 billion in Federal student loans and Pell Grants dispersed each year,” the order said. “The accreditors’ job is to determine which institutions provide a quality education — and therefore merit accreditation. Unfortunately, accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority.”
The University of Connecticut is one of various schools with accredited programs, with a full list available on the website of the provost. This includes not only the university, accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, but also many majors within UConn. These majors are within engineering, fine arts, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Neag School of Education programs and more.
There are two types of accreditations, according to Sarah Croucher, the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. Institutional accreditation applies to the entirety of UConn and allows the university to participate in Title IV financial aid programs. Programmatic accreditation refers to specific programs within the school, and Croucher noted that around half of UConn’s undergraduate and graduate level programs are accredited.
Notably, UConn is the only school in New England to have an accredited journalism program, according to the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
However, it’s possible Trump and his administration have no jurisdiction over which schools are accredited.
“There are no plans to limit accreditation,” Croucher said. “It is legally enshrined in the Higher Education Act, and a range of wider federal regulation. Institutional and programmatic accreditation is the foundation of quality assurance in U.S. higher education.”
Croucher noted that the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC) recently released a statement on Trump’s recent executive order, and particularly the fact sheet that the administration published along with it.
“The fact sheet on President Trump’s latest Executive Order on college accreditation includes several misleading claims about the work and objectives of the nation’s largest accrediting commissions,” the statement from C-RAC said.
Croucher added that the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is also an independent nonprofit organization.
“We do not anticipate change in institutional accreditation, nor in our programmatic accreditors,” Croucher said. “We continue to work closely with NECHE as they monitor relevant information, regulation, or other policies that might impact the work of accreditors, but in no way is this going away.”
Croucher expressed doubt that UConn is in danger of losing any accreditation, despite what Trump’s executive order states.
“There is no conceivable future in which we do not have both institutional accreditation and a wide ecosystem of programmatic accreditation,” Croucher said. “Accreditation is central to our work in assuring the quality of our education at the institutional level and within each individual program. It is essential in some programs for graduates to seek licensure or certification in professional fields. We will continue to operate as an accredited institution, and the focus right now is on our next accreditation cycle.”