Uncertain Changes Loom at Accreditation Conference

Inside Higher Ed

Josh Moody

December 16, 2024

PHILADELPHIA—The talk at the annual Middle States Commission on Higher Education conference last week centered on the changes coming to higher education as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.

But exactly what those changes will look like remains a matter of pure speculation, given how disconnected Trump’s rhetoric often is from the realities of his policies. Before an audience of college leaders, accreditation liaisons and commission members, speakers pondered whether Republicans can enact Trump’s sweeping higher education agenda amid regular GOP infighting, competing policy priorities and looming midterm elections.

Trump’s pledge to reshape higher education has often focused on accreditation. He has threatened to fire accreditors or force them to drop diversity, equity and inclusion from their standards, and vowed to open up the marketplace for new accrediting bodies. Whether he can—and how he would go about it—remains unclear.

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