Five colleges join to form new accreditor amid Trump admin’s higher ed reforms 

Five colleges, including Benedictine College in Kansas, have founded a new higher education accrediting organization seeking to raise academic standards.

The National Association for Academic Excellence (NAAE) announced Oct. 13 that Houston Christian University in Texas, Merrimack College in Massachusetts, the University of Mount Saint Vincent in New York, Bellevue University in Nebraska and Benedictine are its five founding members. All are independent colleges, and all but Bellevue are religious.

The association’s mission is to strengthen higher education by emphasizing academic rigor, institutional integrity and academic freedom.

NAAE’s accreditation standards emphasize rigorous curricula rooted in the humanities and sciences, along with measurable student learning outcomes. They also call for institutions to base academic decisions on evidence rather than outside pressure.

The standards encourage research that advances knowledge and respects human dignity, while calling on institutions to support lifelong learning. NAAE also urges colleges to protect academic freedom, allowing students and faculty to pursue knowledge without censorship or retaliation while maintaining ethical standards.

The five founding colleges will hold seats on NAAE’s Board of Directors and Commission on Accreditation, helping develop accreditation standards and make decisions about the organization’s operations. The organization plans to seek formal recognition from the U.S. Department of Education.

The association’s founding comes amid efforts to reform higher education accreditation nationwide. In April 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Education Department to strengthen oversight of accreditors and encourage competition among accrediting agencies.

The Education Department announced plans to revise accreditation regulations in January 2026 and released proposed changes in August following federal rulemaking discussions. The proposals would:

• Make it easier for colleges to change accrediting agencies or obtain accreditation from multiple agencies. 

• Reduce remaining geographic barriers affecting accreditor recognition and institutional choice. 

• Clarify how federal recognition relates to accreditors’ obligations under antitrust laws. 

• Clarify accreditation requirements concerning student achievement and faculty qualifications. 

• Require accreditors to maintain viewpoint neutrality while allowing standards consistent with an institution’s religious mission. 

“The Department’s proposed changes to our higher education quality assurance system will improve college affordability, reconnect education to workforce needs, strengthen accountability, and restore confidence in our accreditation system,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in an August press release.

The proposed reforms aim to increase competition among accrediting agencies and give colleges more flexibility to select organizations that align with their missions. NAAE argues that traditional regional accreditation often applied broad standards to institutions with widely different educational goals.

“In an age when many colleges have surrendered the authority to define their own ends, these five have chosen to reclaim it,” Thomas Lindsay, director of higher education policy at Next Generation Texas, wrote in a commentary published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

(Featured image: Benedictine College, Kansas)