Assess The Impact Of Governmental Standards On The Accreditation Paper

The Impact of Governmental Standards on the Accreditation Process As mentioned in A Brief Guide to U.S. Higher Education (American Council on Education, 2007), accrediting bodies were originally meant to be "voluntary, non-governmental, and self-regulatory structures” of which institutions became members and paid dues. Since the publication of A Brief Guide, however, government oversight of the accreditation process has increased, as has the public’s call for documented student success in return for student aid and the allocation of tax dollars to higher education institutions. Although the publication does recognize that the government imposes regulations on the accreditation process, it does not take into account that the process as it has evolved can be harmful to

At the time that A Brief Guide was written, lawmakers and the public were increasingly focused on having accreditors connect funding and documented student success. This is a marked change from the original purpose of accreditation, which had less to do with funding and more with improving teaching practices and academic standards. This shift only increased after the Great Recession of 2008 hit and there was a more urgent call for increased attention to student outcomes and the guarantee that accreditation bodies were allocating federal aid only to the institutions with successful student outcomes. As the gatekeepers of billions of dollars of federal student aid, accreditation agencies came under increasing oversight by the government, especially as state funding was slashed and federal aid played an increasingly important role in access to higher education as costs transferred to students (Mitchell, Leachman & Masterson, 2016, para. 1,