Most university students don't know much about accreditation.
"It's kind of behind the scenes," said Carson Dale, student body president at Florida State University. "But obviously it's a very important thing when it comes to financial aid, course transfers, graduate school, all that good stuff."
With the board overseeing Florida's public universities set to vote Friday afternoon on whether to create a new accreditor, some predict student knowledge will rise dramatically.
"I think this could be the single biggest shift in regional and national accreditation in living memory of almost anybody who's connected to higher education," said Peter Lake, a Stetson University law professor and higher education expert.
What is accreditation?
As Dale mentioned, accreditors are important.
They set and review higher education standards. They give institutions access to government funding, students access to financial aid and they lend graduates' degrees credibility.
They can even affect what students are taught.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis has been fighting the accreditation system for years, accusing it of being biased toward progressive politics. He's taken issue with Florida's accreditor, called the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
"We want to focus on things that really matter, things that are enduring," DeSantis said at a late June press conference. "We do not want to waste someone's education with four years of boxing with some ideological fad that just may happen to be the flavor of the day."
Using litigation and legislation, he and other state leaders have pushed to change the system.
Creating an alternative accreditor would be the biggest move yet. But even if the Florida Board of Governors approves it, a full shakeup would take years.
The new accreditor
The proposed new accreditor is named the Commission for Public Higher Education, or CPHE.
It's projected to take several years for CPHE to receive official status, according to a business plan posted on the board's website.
While DeSantis is challenging this requirement, accreditors currently must be approved by the United States Department of Education.
DeSantis also signed a law requiring Florida's public universities to make a good-faith effort to change accreditors at the end of each accreditation cycle, which can last up to a decade.
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University systems in five other southern states are joining Florida's efforts to create an alternate. They're Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee.
The business plan says Florida has set aside $4 million to provide "initial stability" but anticipates the other states to make a comparable contribution.
"By establishing rigorous, transparent and adaptable outcomes-based accreditation standards and practices, CPHE will ensure that colleges and universities meet and maintain academic quality and operational excellence on behalf of their students," the universities said in a joint statement.
SACSCOC, Florida's current accreditor, said in a statement that it was aware of the efforts.
"We welcome any new accreditor as they go through a rigorous approval process," it wrote. "Accreditation is central to quality education; thus, accreditors are held to high standards and must themselves be reviewed."
It continued: "As for SACSCOC, we know we currently accredit institutions that serve the largest number of students in the country (approximately 5.5M). As such, we will work with our partnering institutions to ensure and strengthen a high standard of accreditation that reflects the needs of students, our institutions, and the workforce."
The impact?
Peter Lake, the Stetson University law professor, predicts the Trump administration will approve the new accreditor.
But with the accreditation model still under development, there are still a lot of unknowns.
"It's up to observers to decide whether that's positive or negative," Lake said. "But there's no question that this is a foundation rocker."
Lake thinks the new organization could stress topics like American civics and put more pressure on professors over what they teach and their classroom outcomes.
"I think teachers may actually feel much more direct impact from accreditor oversight in day-to-day classroom management than they've experienced in the past," he said.
ALSO READ: Florida Board of Governors to discuss a new university accreditation organization next week
Students would also see the effects of a change: "You don't know, but the new accreditors, for example, might impose new curriculum requirements that people have to meet that have not existed before," Lake said, "and that could put stress on people who are transiting through the system at the time and people who are planning on going."
Lake thinks higher education overhauls could lead to what he calls a renaissance. But he also worries accreditation regions may become defined by their politics.
"I think as the accreditation system potentially creates more variety, it potentially creates the possibility of more affinity shopping," he said.
The politics involved is a big concern for Anita Levy of the American Association of University Professors.
"DeSantis is not so much looking to divest higher education of politics, but rather to insert his own politics into higher education," Levy said.
The Florida Education Association and the United Faculty of Florida are also speaking out.
"By allowing political interference into the accreditation process, the state will continue to erode faculty voice, chill academic freedom, and further politicize hiring, curriculum, and tenure decisions," they said in a statement.
"It sets a dangerous precedent that could fragment national accreditation standards, damage Florida's academic reputation, and jeopardize our students' futures, including their federal aid eligibility and degree recognition," they continued.
But Carson Dale, the FSU student body president, likes the idea of the new accreditor.
He was picked by other student presidents to serve on the Florida Board of Governors. He plans to vote "yes" to establish the new accreditation organization.
"Innovation and competition is a great thing, and I think that's what this allows for," he said. "It kind of puts some positive pressure on other accreditation agencies across the nation, and it also allows for us to try out this new model."
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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