In another blow to the credibility of the nation’s network of higher education watchdogs, one of the country’s most prestigious journalism programs has dropped efforts to earn accreditation.
“We find little value in the current version of accreditation,” Medill School of Journalism Dean Bradley Hamm said in a statement on Tuesday. “As we near the 2020s, we expect far better than a 1990s-era accreditation organization that resists change—especially as education and careers in our field evolve rapidly.”
Accreditors are deputized by the federal government to monitor the quality of higher education institutions and programs. Colleges and universities must earn accreditation to be eligible to participate in the federal student loan program. The federal government lends roughly $150 billion to college students every year.
But because the Medill accreditation is specific to its journalism and communications program, and because it will remain under the regional accreditation umbrella of Northwestern University, students won’t lose access to federal student aid. However, students won’t be eligible to take part in a prestigious college journalism contest that accepts entrants only from accredited schools.