Colleges and Universities Accreditation in the US, as in many other countries, is a voluntary, self-regulatory, non-governmental, peer-review process which provides a means of assisting Colleges and Universities to become stronger and better institutions by setting standards of educational quality. It is coordinated by various non-governmental accreditation commissions (Agencies) made up of member institutions and not by any government agency.

Therefore, the US Department of Education (DOE) does not accredit Universities. Many accrediting agencies in the US voluntarily seek recognition from the Secretary of Education but they are not required by Law to do so. Consequently, Colleges and Universities accreditation in the US is optional, voluntary process, and each College or University may decide for itself if accreditation is appropriate and necessary to accomplish its mission. Not all Colleges and Universities in the US need accreditation from any external accrediting agency. In fact, many of them see external accreditation as an invasion into their privacies to undermine their legal, academic and/or professional rights and authorities! Accreditation in the US is only mandatory for Colleges and Universities that seek Federal Government educational funding. Many Universities operate as unaccredited institutions in the US, Europe, other parts of the world, and they award degree Certificates! The awardees will then go and evaluate or validate their degrees from organizations (Accreditation Agencies) set up for that purpose, and once that is done, the validated unaccredited degrees would be as good as the accredited ones!