The key to assuring higher education quality in the U.S. is accreditation, the complex system used by the Federal government as a gate-keeping mechanism to over $130 billion annually in federal student aid. But federal accreditation policy has become almost entirely focused on compliance and bureaucratic procedures, instead of what counts: student outcomes and results.

A new brief from Higher Learning Advocates, The Keys to Quality: Reforming Higher Education Accreditation Policy, outlines key federal policy recommendations for reforming current accreditation measures. Our proposal focuses on four key policy changes:

• Raise the bar for student outcomes and focus accreditors on graduation rates, default rates and loan repayment.
• Enable differentiated, risk-based accreditation reviews.
• Make the accreditation process more transparent.
• Enable institutions to respond to local workforce needs more quickly.

Learn more about our plan and download the brief here.