Tools · Free

The Accreditor Report Card

Every college is accredited by one of ~70 agencies the Dept. of Education recognizes — but no one ranks the agencies themselves by what their graduates actually earn relative to debt. We joined the federal accreditor database with College Scorecard outcomes to build one.

61 of 70 recognized agencies ranked

Every U.S. Dept. of Education–recognized accrediting agency with enough institutions reporting both earnings and debt data to rank fairly. The other 9 agencies didn’t have enough institutions with usable College Scorecard data to include responsibly.

Rank Accrediting agency Institutions Median earnings Median debt Earnings : debt
1 Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Schools 20 $32,986 $7,041 4.68
2 North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, Board of Trustees 91 $40,504 $8,820 4.59
3 Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools 41 $36,048 $8,196 4.40
4 Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation 40 $37,049 $8,560 4.33
5 Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc., Accreditation Commission 33 $76,833 $17,875 4.30
6 Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges 140 $41,305 $10,062 4.11
7 Council on Chiropractic Education, Commission on Accreditation 13 $50,323 $12,500 4.03
8 Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education 46 $74,887 $18,750 3.99
9 Maryland Board of Nursing 21 $46,449 $11,750 3.95
10 New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Technical and Career Institutions 19 $44,873 $12,000 3.74
11 Liaison Committee on Medical Education 116 $71,559 $19,442 3.68
12 Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools 263 $34,657 $9,500 3.65
13 Council on Occupational Education 366 $33,417 $9,210 3.63
14 New York State Board of Regents, State Education Department, Office of the Professions (Nursing Education) 111 $50,445 $14,348 3.52
15 Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology 501 $41,855 $12,000 3.49
16 American Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation 53 $41,125 $11,942 3.44
17 American Dental Association, Commission on Dental Accreditation 499 $41,016 $12,000 3.42
18 Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training 65 $32,001 $9,500 3.37
19 American Veterinary Medical Association, Council on Education 29 $67,253 $20,121 3.34
20 Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine 17 $48,962 $14,682 3.33
21 Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. — May 6, 2013 Formerly: National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission 1164 $42,498 $13,000 3.27
22 Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges 407 $34,509 $10,665 3.24
23 Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education 70 $65,351 $20,449 3.20
24 American Bar Association, Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar 170 $68,368 $21,375 3.20
25 WASC Senior College and University Commission 143 $64,403 $20,500 3.14
26 Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities 149 $48,473 $15,750 3.08
27 National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences, Inc. 625 $24,391 $7,917 3.08
28 Council on Education for Public Health 244 $61,510 $20,500 3.00
29 National League for Nursing, Commission for Nurse Education Accreditation 77 $41,016 $13,750 2.98
30 American Psychological Association, Commission on Accreditation 315 $62,381 $21,028 2.97
31 American Optometric Association, Accreditation Council on Optometric Education 17 $59,025 $19,976 2.95
32 Missouri State Board of Nursing 51 $42,643 $14,465 2.95
33 Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology 60 $54,862 $18,709 2.93
34 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education 125 $62,203 $21,250 2.93
35 National Association of Schools of Dance, Commission on Accreditation 67 $59,221 $21,028 2.82
36 Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs 122 $60,114 $21,500 2.80
37 Distance Education Accrediting Commission 13 $43,927 $15,756 2.79
38 Commission on English Language Program Accreditation 172 $58,106 $21,012 2.77
39 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education 63 $61,675 $22,250 2.77
40 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology 293 $58,308 $21,500 2.71
41 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics 349 $55,198 $21,056 2.62
42 American Physical Therapy Association, Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education 563 $45,516 $17,500 2.60
43 American Osteopathic Association, Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation 18 $57,746 $22,242 2.60
44 Teacher Education Accreditation Council, Accreditation Committee 102 $57,998 $22,500 2.58
45 National Association of Schools of Theatre, Commission on Accreditation 178 $55,552 $21,500 2.58
46 Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools 169 $31,914 $12,374 2.58
47 Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education 23 $54,458 $21,355 2.55
48 National Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation 291 $54,501 $21,991 2.48
49 Middle States Commission on Higher Education 492 $53,028 $21,500 2.47
50 American Occupational Therapy Association, Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education 424 $49,343 $20,020 2.46
51 Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education 877 $55,041 $22,500 2.45
52 Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools 82 $55,638 $23,250 2.39
53 National Association of Schools of Music, Commission on Accreditation 629 $53,861 $22,500 2.39
54 American Academy for Liberal Education 11 $55,619 $23,470 2.37
55 National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education 711 $53,316 $22,675 2.35
56 New England Commission of Higher Education 186 $56,566 $24,250 2.33
57 Higher Learning Commission 963 $46,827 $20,801 2.25
58 Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges 753 $42,490 $20,500 2.07
59 Association for Biblical Higher Education, Commission on Accreditation 63 $40,596 $22,516 1.80
60 New York State Board of Regents, and the Commissioner of Education 9 $32,568 $19,750 1.65
61 Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, Accreditation Commission 33 $37,474 $23,438 1.60

How this is built

Every institution’s accreditor comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s DAPIP database (Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs) — 44,673 institution/location records, 64,297 accreditation records. We matched each accredited institution to its IPEDS UnitID, then pulled median 10-year post-enrollment earnings and median completer debt for all 9,399 uniquely matched institutions from the College Scorecard API — the same federal data source behind our College Comparison Tool.

  • This covers 61 of the 70 currently-recognized agencies. The remaining 9 didn’t have at least 8 institutions reporting both earnings and debt figures — too few for a ranking we’d stand behind.
  • “Institutions” is how many of that agency’s accredited schools had usable earnings and debt data — not always its full roster. Many DAPIP-listed institutions (closed schools, non-Title-IV programs, insufficient enrollment) simply have no College Scorecard record.
  • Earnings : debt ratio is median earnings divided by median debt among institutions with data — higher means graduates typically earn more relative to what they borrowed, not that any individual program is a good or bad fit.
  • An agency accrediting mostly short career/certificate programs (lower typical debt) will naturally show a higher ratio than one accrediting mostly four-year institutions (higher typical debt but often higher absolute earnings) — this measures debt efficiency, not overall quality.
  • Data updates roughly annually, matching DAPIP’s and College Scorecard’s own release cadence.