UCF President Alexander Cartwright announced Dec. 2 that UCF became the first Florida university to receive accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, one of the nation’s largest institutional accreditors.
“UCF’s transition to HLC reflects our bold ambitions for the future and our responsibility to deliver exceptional value for Florida,” Cartwright said in a statement. “HLC is an accreditation partner that matches our scale, our innovation, and our commitment to strong stewardship of public resources.”
This milestone comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this summer that the State University System of Florida and five other state systems would be launching a first-of-its-kind accreditation system — the Commission for Public Higher Education.
The 1965 Higher Education Act requires accreditors to evaluate educational institutions based on broadly defined categories.
Due to a recent state statute, Florida universities are required to switch accreditors every five years. UCF’s next accreditation date falls within the next full cycle in 2032, according to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
DeSantis has emphasized that CPHE is intended to curb what he calls ideological influence embedded in existing accreditation standards.
In his announcement earlier this year, he described traditional accreditors as “out-of-touch.”
According to the CPHE Business Plan, the accreditor’s initial funding of $4 million comes from the Florida Board of Governors, as appropriated by the Florida Legislature.
The plan details steps for CPHE to become fully recognized: incorporation as a nonprofit organization, creation of a Board of Directors across the participating state university systems, accreditation of six institutions by summer 2026 and recognition by the U.S. Department of Education by 2028.
Dan Harrison, one of CPHE’s lead administrators, described the organization as “functioning like a startup,” handling the first cohort, rebuilding the website, hiring contractors and assembling review teams.
Harrison stressed Florida’s initial support: “Florida was super generous and they were so generous in fact that the other six systems in Florida all now have an equal seat at the director’s table.”
Harrison also noted that CPHE must “operate continuously for two years” and “offer accreditation to one or more institutions” before applying for federal recognition, adding that the organization is “definitely on track.”
Jason Jewell, chief academic officer and vice chancellor of strategic initiatives for the State University System, emphasized why CPHE was necessary.
“There have been calls for accreditation reform for a long time… there has been a widespread sense that accreditors, by and large, haven’t been doing that very well over the past 30 years or so,” Jewell said. “Some of these accreditors that have been around for 60 or 70 years have pretty big bureaucracies; it makes them pretty slow to act in a lot of circumstances.”
Jewell explained that CPHE’s approach differs from traditional accrediting agencies by focusing on outcomes rather than processes.
“Rather than asking, ‘Well, how much money do you spend on this activity?’ We’re going to ask, you know, what you have this activity going on at your institution? What does it produce? Is that consistent with your school’s mission?” Jewell said.
He also highlighted the move away from geographic criteria in favor of peer institutions
“For the schools in Florida, let’s say University of Central Florida, who are really the peer institutions for UCF,” said Jewell. “We might obviously say, well, the other institutions in the State University System might be candidates for that, or institutions of a certain size in other states that are public might be considered peer institutions – institutions 20 miles apart – that doesn’t really make sense in the 21st century.”
Robert Cassanello, president of the United Faculty of Florida union and a UCF history professor, raised concerns about pace and governance.
“This accreditation system looks like it could really be done rather quickly and it’s not a compliment,” Cassanello said.
He also questioned CPHE’s independence, saying it could be “a self-dealing system – going to be held responsible through the states that funded and staff it” and asked, “How can an accreditor investigate state interference – from the state that’s paying its employees?”
Jewell addressed potential conflicts of interest, explaining safeguards.
“If there’s a school from the SUS that has applied for accreditation, the staff is going to make sure that none of the members of the site team or the review team is from an SUS school,” Jewell said. “We want to make sure that there’s a separation there, that there’s not going to be any kind of conflict of interest in that sense.”
He also highlighted CPHE’s intellectual diversity standard.
“We have a standard on intellectual diversity for students and faculty,” Jewell said. “To make sure our schools are open to a wide variety of viewpoints, and that the schools are not taking action to try to stifle free speech or open discussion about important ideas.”
While UCF is not part of CPHE’s first cohort, Jewell noted it could be an option in the future.
“As far as UCF is concerned, CPHE is one option for schools,” Jewell said. “If they want to come to CPHE, that’s another option for them. Ultimately, it’s up to the leadership at each one of the individual institutions as to which accreditor they want to work with.”
Jewell reassured that students will not see immediate changes: “Students are not gonna wake up to an entirely different university, just based on who their accreditor is.”
UCF’s transition to HLC reflects a goal to increase national competitiveness and solidifies UCF as the first university in Florida to move away from the traditional accreditor, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
“UCF has become a national leader in delivering excellence at scale, achieving outstanding outcomes for our students and the state while operating with one of the lowest costs per degree in the nation,” Cartwright said in the statement. “Because of that efficiency, additional new investments in UCF would deliver among the strongest returns in higher education — fueling the talent, research, and innovation that drive Florida’s future.”
Accreditation remains central to student experience, affecting federal aid, transferability of credits and institutional reputation. CPHE’s emergence introduces a potential new option for public universities, but its federal recognition timeline — with the earliest likely approval in 2028 — ensures no immediate impact for UCF students.
As CPHE develops, it represents a national experiment in public university accreditation, with six states testing new models as opposed to traditional regional boundaries. Whether CPHE gains widespread adoption could influence the trajectory of public higher education across the United States.
“It’s not our goal to accredit every single school… but we think we’re going to provide a good option for public institutions,” Jewell said. “We expect that a number of them will think that will be the best choice for them going forward.”