The higher education community has been engaged in a vigorous contest with policy makers (both in Congress and in the U.S. Department of Education) over whether universities should use accreditation status to determine decisions about whether to accept the academic credits of transferring students. Arrayed on the side of restrictive regulations are individuals in the U.S. Department of Education, select members of Congress, and the Career College Association, which represents proprietary schools -- all favoring new legislation and/or regulations prohibiting individual credit transfer decisions being determined “solely on the basis of accreditation.”

The institutions targeted by these proposed restrictions are those that deny credit transfer from postsecondary institutions accredited by entities other than the six recognized regional accreditors (e.g., Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges).

Opponents of the proposed legislation and regulations argue that the federal government should have no role in determining credit transfer decisions that historically -- and appropriately -- have been the responsibility of the faculty and, in some instances, states and their governing systems. The debate is fueled by heated monologues, anecdotal testimonials and campaign contributions.

At the core of this policy debate is the assumption that the type of accreditation held by the institution where a student was enrolled should not be the controlling influence on the decision to award credit by the receiving institution. I believe that assumption needs to be revisited.

It must be remembered that one of the reasons for the establishment of accreditation by geographical regions was precisely to provide assurance to accepting institutions that the credits earned at the “sending” institution were in fact “earned and comparable.” Within regions virtually all institutions offering academic coursework were known and a network of college officials worked together to make practical and usually fair transfer decisions.

The higher education world has changed dramatically in the past few decades. There has been a massive growth in student enrollments, with an increasing number transferring credits from several institutions. Whereas a quarter of a century ago a typical institution might have 200 credit transfer decisions in a given year, today that same institution, particularly if located where the population is growing, may have 2,000 such decisions. One Midwestern public university with over 12,000 students annually makes nearly 4,000 credit transfer decisions. The staff in admission and registrar offices have experienced only modest growth during this same period. As a result there are far fewer resources available to address credit transfer decisions.

This explosion in student numbers is but part of the problem. Equally problematic is the growth in the number of institutions offering higher education credits. The latest figures (2006) indicate there are 2,713 proprietary institutions eligible for federal Title IV Funds, most marketing themselves as “accredited” with their accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education. Just over half of these are less than two-year institutions, many offering freshmen “equivalent” courses.

Federal student aid policies, particularly those grossly expanding “guaranteed student loan” programs, have significantly contributed to growth in the proprietary sector. Recent changes in educational benefit programs for active duty military personnel have likewise contributed to the creation of institutions seeking to serve military personnel. From 2000 to 2006 the number of proprietary institutions offering baccalaureate degrees increased over 50 percent, from 274 to 429. Our sympathies should flow to registrars and admission offices flooded with transfer requests and at times confronted with transcripts from distant institutions whose names are hardly recognizable.

I would argue the opposite of the position now being made by policy makers and their patrons: Accreditation status, especially that conferred by established regional accrediting groups, should be a key part of the decision-making process by which institutional officials make credit transfer decisions.

Where institutions not regionally accredited are known to registrars it makes eminently good sense that they would make credit decisions based on what they know: articulation agreements, the experience of earlier transfer students, and the Transfer Credit Practices database used by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. But for distant, recently created and even suspect institutions not well known to registrars and admission officers, credit transfer decisions based solely on the absence of regional accreditation status are reasonable and justified. Institutional accreditation by the six regional associations remains the most thorough and reliable of all accrediting efforts. It is also a process historically resistant to political and financial influence.

Does such a position unfairly discriminate against proprietary institutions? Not necessarily. The most recent data available (2004) indicate that 165 of the then 375 four-year proprietary institutions (or 44 percent) had earned regional accreditation. In short, a large number of those proprietary institutions meet the same standards as do independent and public colleges and universities and for them credit transfer would be handled on comparable bases. The remaining proprietary institutions would better serve their students by likewise pursuing and achieving accreditation from one of the six regional accrediting entities, rather than marketing a narrow peer accrediting status (often called “national accreditation”) and seeking governmental intrusion in the accrediting process.

The public interest would be better served if policy makers, rather than berating credit transfer decisions or proposing “federalizing” transcript evaluations, would, instead, support the work of regional accrediting agencies. Moreover, policy makers should question complaining institutions about why they have not earned regional accreditation as have a significant proportion of their proprietary counterparts.