A behind-the-scenes look at how college and university accreditation affects your education—and the value of your degree.

Accreditation is essential to colleges and universities. Without it, they are unable to participate in federal student aid programs or confer legitimate degrees. In Accreditation on the Edge, Susan D. Phillips and Kevin Kinser bring together the expertise of different stakeholders to illustrate the complexities of the accreditation system and to map the critical issues that must be navigated going forward.

Accreditation can be seen both as an invaluable resource and as a barrier to needed reform. Presenting an array of different perspectives—from accreditors and institutions to policymakers and consumers—the book offers nuanced views on accreditation's importance to higher education and on the potential impact of proposed reforms. The contributors reveal that accreditation is currently on the edge of a policy precipice, as the needs of higher education and the interests of the many stakeholders may well outstrip its ability to perform. But, they argue, accreditation is also on the cutting edge of the transformation of higher education in the twenty-first century.

Intended for policymakers, accreditors, institutional leaders, and scholars in higher education, Accreditation on the Edge offers a comprehensive analysis of the critical issues that accreditation reform needs to address if it is to serve the future of a fast-changing higher education environment.

Contributors: Armand Alacbay, David A. Bergeron, Alana Dunagan, Judith S. Eaton, Peter T. Ewell, Madeleine F. Green, Thomas L. Harnisch, Michael B. Horn, Kevin Kinser, Edwin W. Koc, Paul J. LeBlanc, Sylvia Manning, Leah K. Matthews, Barmak Nassirian, Anne Neal, Audrey Peek, Susan D. Phillips, Mark Schneider, Jamienne S. Studley, Joseph Vibert

Susan D. Phillips is a professor of educational leadership and policy and of counseling psychology at the University at Albany. Previously she led the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation and the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. Kevin Kinser is a professor of and the head of Education Policy Studies at Pennsylvania State University, where he is also a senior scientist at the Center for the Study of Higher Education.