Accreditation is a major barrier to higher education reform. Constitutional or not, accreditors are an administrative anomaly: private nonprofit agencies that nonetheless possess life-and-death power over higher education. To maintain federal funding, universities must satisfy the administrative requirements and whims of these unelected entities. Would-be startup colleges have to jump through accreditor-designed hoops simply to operate. But states can deal a blow to accreditors' power. To reduce college costs and promote innovation in higher education, this report presents why states should drop accreditation requirements for new and existing colleges that otherwise satisfy the conditions for state authorization.