8 Things No One Tells You About Accreditation (But We Will)

Accreditation is one of those processes that everyone in higher ed knows of, but few people actually feel equipped to talk about at parties (which is probably good, to be fair, because accreditation is kind of a weird party topic). Still, whether you’re a seasoned administrator or someone who got voluntold to help with the self-study, understanding how accreditation actually works and what it really means for your institution is crucial. And while there’s no shortage of formal definitions and policy handbooks out there, there’s a lot that tends to go unsaid. That’s where we come in. Today, we're sharing 8 things no one tells you about accreditation (but we absolutely will).

 1) It’s voluntary, except when it isn’t.

Accreditation is, by definition, a voluntary peer-review process. Nobody from the federal government is standing outside your campus gates with a clipboard and a stopwatch saying you must apply. But “voluntary” comes with a big, sparkly caveat here. If you want to be a degree-granting institution in the United States, many states require accreditation (or at least a credible plan to become accredited) for you to operate legally. States like Georgia, Illinois, New York, California, and many others have statutes in place that make accreditation (or an accreditation plan) a requirement if you’re setting up shop there.

So, yes, accreditation is technically “optional.” But, depending on your state and academic offerings, it can be optional in the same way that having oxygen is optional. You don’t have to pursue it…but if you want to offer degrees, enroll students, and legally exist as a higher education institution, you kind of do.

2) California is a whole thing.

It’s sunny! It’s the most populous state in the US! The Beach Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a lot of songs about it! Who wouldn’t want to pick California for a home base? Well, much like the criminally underrated 2009 rom com starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin, It’s Complicated. One of the most coveted practical benefits of becoming accredited by a US Department of Education-recognized accreditor is that your institution becomes eligible for membership in NC-SARA (which drastically simplifies serving students across state lines), with one famous exception: California!

California does not participate in NC-SARA and they also require accreditation for degree-granting institutions within their state. This means that if you’re a California-based degree-granting institution, you have to go through accreditation (see “It’s voluntary, except when it isn’t” above), AND, even if you jump that hurdle and become accredited, you won’t be eligible for NC-SARA (so you will still need to get individual approvals for each state you enroll students in). A lot of institutions have a lot of feelings about this. We get it; we just want you to have this information.

3) NC-SARA only recognizes institutions with degree programs.

As we mentioned above, for many institutions, NC-SARA membership is the shiny trophy institutions hope to hoist at the end of the accreditation marathon. They make it through the self-study, strategic planning, institutional effectiveness reviews, multiple rounds of policy fine-tuning, and site visit—all while keeping students enrolled and operations running. They succeed! At long last, they can offer online programs across the country without having to get state-by-state approvals. But (and brace yourself, Sir Mix-a-Lot, this is a big but), NC-SARA membership is only for degree-granting schools. If your school only offers certificates, short-term training, bootcamps, or other non-degree programs, even if they’re stellar quality and accredited, you’re not eligible for NC‑SARA membership.

This surprises a lot of schools, especially those in the nontraditional or adult learning space. They’ve trained for the marathon. They’ve treated blisters, they’ve made some questionable bathroom choices, and they’ve pushed through all 26.2 miles, only to discover they can’t have the trophy and still have to navigate the full maze of state authorization requirements on their own. Don’t let this be you. Of course, institutions pursue accreditation for many good reasons: academic quality, improving operations, credibility within the higher ed space, student trust, access to federal aid; but if one of your goals is NC-SARA membership, you need to know upfront: without degree programs, that trophy won’t be going to you.

4) Generative AI cannot write your self-study. I promise.  

Look, I get it. Self-studies seem insurmountable and overwhelming. But asking ChatGPT to write your self-study is not the answer, and I know first-hand that it’s not because, of course, I’ve tried it. If there was a way to make reviewing self-studies faster, you better believe that your friendly neighborhood Higher Ed Consultants would be all over it to save you time and money.

ChatGPT is good at so many things, like proofreading, summarizing, or creating a photo of you into a retro action figure! One thing it is not great at, though, is following complex, layered instructions that require sticking to only the content in specific documents. Even when you upload a file and say, “Only use this,” AI can sometimes still default to pulling in outside knowledge it was trained on, because that’s how it’s wired to be “helpful.” For a document like the self-study, where accuracy, sourcing, and alignment to your actual institutional practices matter more than anything, those kinds of guesses can get you in real trouble.

Also, AI’s responses about the same topics vary over time. That means the Admissions process you described in Standard 1 might not match the one it writes for Standard 4, even if you fed it the same source material. Now you’ve got contradictions, confusion, and an evaluator wondering whether your processes were ever implemented or your documentation just wasn’t reviewed. Either way, it’s a bad look.

If right now you’re thinking, “You just need to adjust your prompts, dummy,” think again.  Prompt engineering can help some, but it can’t override how generative AI fundamentally works. Generative AI was trained to predict what words are most likely to come next based on patterns from across the entire internet, not just from the one document you provided. So, even with the clearest instructions, it’s still prone to pulling in outside info, blending sources, or “hallucinating” details in an effort to be helpful.

This might change! As generative AI gets better, there may come a day when it really can help write a good, consistent first draft of a self-study. And when that happens, we’ll absolutely let you know, because it’ll help us a ton, too. But for now, trust me: words that technically make sense are not the same thing as an accurate description of a real process.

5)  Accreditors have their own “accreditors” to answer to (and those “accreditors” have their own oversight).

It’s the Matryoshka doll of accountability! Sure, your institution is accountable to its accreditor, but your accreditor has someone keeping tabs on them, too. In the U.S., accrediting agencies don’t just make up their own rules and walk away. Most choose to be recognized (and periodically re-evaluated) by oversight bodies like the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the US Department of Education (ED). And those oversight bodies have frameworks, regulations, and public accountability mechanisms they answer to. 

So, if you’ve ever muttered, “Why are they asking for this?” during accreditation prep, keep in mind: your accreditor likely has reviewers of their own to answer to. They must demonstrate how they enforce standards, protect student interests, make decisions fairly, and publish outcomes results. They prove they handle complaints, follow due process, and even maintain audited financial statements. So yes, the paperwork sometimes feels exasperating, but, if it helps, your accreditor has their own mountain of paperwork.

6) It’s not one-and-done.

Achieving initial accreditation is a huge accomplishment, and it is one that demands a celebration. Pop those bottles! Throw on Kool and the Gang’s party anthem! Seriously, it’s a big deal. But (not to rain on your parade), accreditation isn’t an end-goal; it’s a cycle. And once you're in it, you're expected to show continuous compliance with the standards.

Even if you sailed through initial accreditation (because maybe you had the help of some Higher Ed consultants), you’ll need to prove that you're still doing what you said you'd do (with a clear data trail to back it up) when it’s time for renewal. That means regular assessments, documented improvements, and actual follow-through on the goals you set years ago.

What did you say in your strategic plan? Have you done any of it? What is your Institutional Effectiveness data showing you? Are you making improvements? What kind of feedback are you getting from your stakeholders? Are you doing anything with it?  Translation: you can't just dust off your prior self-study, swap a few dates, and call it good. Accreditors want evidence that you’re actively maintaining quality, not just remembering what it looked like the last time they visited.

7) Your internal documents should be for you.

Your policies, processes, handbooks, and procedures should first and foremost serve your institution. Don’t be scared of processes that look different from everyone else’s. Honestly, we love it when this happens. It shows that your documents are authentic, purposeful, and aligned to your mission and the way you operate. Remember: accreditation is about showing how what you’re already doing complies with the standards.

So, please, please don’t create an entire parallel universe of “for show” policies just to make evaluators happy. That’s a waste of everyone’s time. Document processes and policies you actually use and then explain how they meet the standards.

8) You’ll get out of it what you put into it.

Accreditation is kind of like swimming. Sure, maybe you can white-knuckle flail your way across the pool and technically make it to the wall just in time to cough up a lung full of water (but, again, that’s just one lap of a cycle). A much better use of your time and energy is to use the process as an opportunity to become a better swimmer.

If you treat accreditation as a process meant to strengthen your academics and operations, you’ll build the systems that demonstrate continuous compliance: collecting data, assessing outcomes, documenting improvements, and responding to stakeholder feedback. Along the way, you’ll get feedback from peers who understand higher education and have a stake in its long-term quality. If you use that feedback to make real improvements, your institution won’t just “make it to the wall” half-drowned, you’ll have the stamina and technique to swim the full race, lap after lap.

On days when it all feels like too much, I invite you to remember this: accreditation was originally created by schools, not imposed on them. Nobody was looking for newer or more fiery hoops to jump through; they recognized the value of accountability. They wanted to improve, to safeguard the future of higher education, and to protect their students. That’s still the goal today.  When you approach accreditation with this mindset, the process stops feeling like a distraction and starts feeling like an investment in your institution’s future and in the students who depend on you. And if you’d like a guide as you embark on that journey, we’re here for you, too!