[Bob]

I thought colleges and universities had already ceded a lot of their autonomy to accrediting bodies.

While that may be true, I consider the use of independent accrediting bodies to be a very different mechanism than licensing by the federal Department of Education.

An accrediting body that uses its power arbitrarily or capriciously would certainly lose its credibility with its members (and could possibly be subject to legal action). With a government bureaucracy, politics will be first and foremost in the licensing process.

[Alberta's Child]

Very good points, but I think the potential for abuse by accrediting bodies should not be overlooked.

Heck, I predict that within the next decade we're going to see a very credible effort on the part of a lot of colleges and universities to effectively overthrow the most notable "accrediting body" of all in higher education -- the NCAA.