Three Programmatic Accreditors Drop Federal Recognition Amid Trump’s Accreditation Overhaul

Specialized programmatic accreditors including the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council, the Council on Education for Public Health, and the Council on Chiropractic Education voluntarily withdrew their petitions for continued federal recognition this week, a development Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent characterized as proof that the Trump administration is holding accreditors to standards they are unwilling or unable to meet. At least one of the departing organizations pushed back sharply on that framing: the Council on Education for Public Health’s executive director, a 20-year veteran of the recognition process, said the decision followed two years of careful analysis and that Kent’s characterization “oversimplified an incredibly complex issue,” adding that the recognition process has become increasingly political across administrations. Accreditation experts note that the practical consequences for students will be minimal. Only one of the three bodies, the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council, served as a Title IV gatekeeper, but only for two of its 11 member institutions, with affected students given an 18-month window to seek accreditation elsewhere. Inside Higher Ed reports that the accreditor’s reasons for withdrawal included cost-benefit considerations, reduced reliance on federal student aid, and a preference for recognition from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation over the Education Department. The two-day National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity meeting also resulted in a recommendation to deny federal recognition to the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s largest cosmetology and massage therapy accreditors, for failing to comply with 17 accreditation standards.