Accreditors and higher‑education leaders warned at a national conference that the federal government’s push to refocus accreditation on measurable student outcomes and allow new accrediting bodies could reshape the sector. Administration directives and new Department of Education incentives aim to broaden recognition for accreditors and curtail DEI standards, prompting concerns about politicizing quality assurance from the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and university representatives. Observers expect the changes to trigger a steady stream of litigation and policy disputes in 2026 — from challenges to frozen research grants to questions about institutional independence. College leaders say any move to inject political tests into accreditation risks unsettling financial aid access, institutional transfers between agencies, and long‑running quality‑assurance frameworks.