In Joseph Heller's Catch-22, a pilot can escape combat missions by proving he is insane. Asking to escape, though, proves he is sane. The rule protects itself.
Higher education runs on the same kind of rule, and it shows up in your tuition bill. In most industries, high prices invite newcomers who do the job better for less. In higher education, newcomers run into a whole series of catch-22s in accreditation and state licensing, so the colleges that set today's prices face far less fresh competition than they otherwise would.
We live inside these catch-22s every day at Elton University. Here are the seven that trap new colleges hardest, a handful more, and why Elton is starting anyway.
1. You need graduates to get accredited, and students want accreditation before they enroll
Accreditors want a track record before they'll vouch for a university, and they measure that track record mostly in students who have already enrolled and finished. The Higher Learning Commission (HLC), one of the largest U.S. institutional accreditors, requires students enrolled in at least one degree program before it grants candidate status. To earn full accreditation, a university must have graduated students, or be ready to graduate them within 30 days of the award. The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) won't even accept an application until a school has run its programs for two consecutive years, and it tells institutions to expect two to five more years before a decision.
Students, meanwhile, want accreditation first. In a 2023 survey of 544 business students in 94 countries, the Association of MBAs found that accreditation ranked as the top factor in choosing a program. Federal student aid requires a nonprofit college to hold accreditation or preaccreditation, so students at a new college usually can't get federal grants or loans either.
The accreditor says "show us your graduates," and the student says "show us your accreditation."
2. States want proof that students want you, but you can't ask them
Delaware requires an applicant to show that its programs meet a critical and compelling need in the state, backed by market-demand data. Maryland asks for evidence of critical and compelling regional or statewide need and demand. New York asks for proof of demand from students or employers.
Meanwhile, Alaska makes it illegal to advertise or recruit students without authorization, and many states count local advertising and recruiting as a "physical presence" that requires a license. A new university has to prove that students want it without being allowed to ask them.
3. You can't call yourself a university until you're licensed, and licensing depends on students
States control who may call themselves a "college" or "university," and they reserve those words for schools they have licensed. The license, in turn, circles back to students. States ask for proof that students want you (catch-22 #2), and some set the bar at accreditation, which requires graduates (catch-22 #1). Georgia's postsecondary commission withholds the words "college" and "university" from institutions that lack accreditation from a U.S.-recognized accreditor. Minnesota offers new in-state schools only a one-year conditional approval to use the term while they pursue accreditation. A new university can find that it can't put "university" in its own name until it has the students that the name would help it attract.
4. Online reach across states requires full accreditation, and candidacy doesn't count
The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) lets a college serve online students in every member state through one approval. SARA only accepts colleges that hold full institutional accreditation, and North Carolina's SARA office says outright that candidacy and preaccreditation don't count. So new online universities have to seek licenses state by state, each with its own forms, fees, and rules.
5. Hiring one great professor in another state can require a license there
Many states require authorization based on "physical presence," and each state defines it differently. Some count faculty, adjuncts, mentors, or tutors who simply work from home there. SARA treats many of these activities as ordinary distance education, but only accredited schools can join SARA. So a new online university that hires a brilliant professor who lives in another state may need a license from that state first.
6. Accreditors require schools to have independent boards, but accreditors' own boards aren't independent
To earn accreditation, a university must answer to an independent governing board. The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) requires one, and it has long expected some board members to be "public" members with no administrative role or ownership stake.
Accreditors don't hold themselves to that standard. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) has a 77-member board, elected by the CEOs of its member institutions. In 2022–23, 43 of those seats belonged to CEOs and 23 to administrators, with only 11 public representatives. Federal rules require only that at least one-seventh of an accreditor's decision-making body represent the public. Even participants in the Department of Education's 2026 rulemaking noted that current rules don't stop accreditor boards from being largely controlled by the leaders of the institutions they oversee.
The result: the leaders of established universities help decide whether a new competitor gets in. State licensing can work the same way. New York invites existing degree-granting institutions in the region to comment on a proposed program's need and its impact on them.
7. New accreditors need member schools, and schools need recognized accreditors
A new university could look for a newer accreditor built for new models. But the Department of Education recognizes only accreditors that have done accrediting work for about two years, so a new accreditor needs member schools before its approval means anything to them. In February 2026, the Department issued a nonbinding interpretive rule that clarifies when the two-year clock starts and commits to faster reviews. That's real progress, and the basic loop remains.
More catch-22s
- The .edu address requires accreditation. EDUCAUSE limits new .edu registrations to institutions with recognized institutional accreditation. Families often read ".edu" as a sign of legitimacy, and a new university can't get one until it's accredited. That's why our website lives at elton.university.
- Employer tuition benefits require accreditation. HLC notes that many employer tuition-reimbursement programs require an accredited school, so many working adults can't use their benefits at a new university.
- Credit transfer favors the established. Transferring credits is hard even between accredited schools: the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that transfer students lost about 43% of their credits on average, and new schools start with no transfer agreements at all.
- Pioneers carry the regret risk. In a study of 359 graduate counseling students, students at unaccredited programs most often wished they had weighed accreditation more carefully, which makes the next student even more cautious.
- Innovation pays a penalty. Accreditors build standards around how universities have always worked. A university that teaches differently, for example with one-on-one instruction in place of lecture halls, has to show that the new approach works without the track record the old approach already has.
Why the rules exist, and who pays for them
The system has an honest purpose. Accreditation and state licensing shield students from diploma mills and from colleges that take tuition and close. Regulators ask for a track record because a track record is hard to fake.
The cost falls on the first students, who take a risk that later students never face, and on every family paying prices that more competition could help bring down. That risk also slows the arrival of better models of education, at a time when AI is changing how people think and learn.
Elton is starting anyway
Follow every one of these rules to the letter, in order, and no new university could ever begin. Each path loops back to needing students that a new school isn't yet allowed to have.
So Elton is doing what every new university has had to do in some form: starting anyway, in the open. We call ourselves a university before any state has licensed us, because that's what we are building. We tell students about Elton and invite them to apply, because no one can prove demand for a school that nobody is allowed to hear about. We hire excellent professors wherever they live, because students deserve the best teacher for their goals, not the best teacher within one state's borders.
We don't do this to dodge the purpose behind the rules. We share that purpose: protecting students. So we protect them directly, every day:
- We tell the truth up front. Elton is a new nonprofit university on track to gain accreditation. Our bachelor's degree page explains what that means, including its limitations, before anyone applies.
- We fund aid ourselves. We don't take federal Title IV aid. We offer our own aid instead, which keeps cost and debt down from the start.
- We make the first month risk-free. Every student can try Elton for a full month and get a full refund if it's not the right fit.
- We teach the way the evidence says works. Every Elton student learns one-on-one with human professors. No AI teaches at Elton. A 2020 meta-analysis of 96 randomized trials found that tutoring raised learning by 0.37 standard deviations on average, one of the strongest effects in education research. That study covered PreK-12 tutoring, and we build the same principle into university-level learning.
- We give credentials along the way. Students earn a certificate at 30 credits, an associate's at 60, and a bachelor's at 120, so progress counts at every stage.
What would break the loops
- Protect students directly. Refund guarantees, tuition escrow, and teach-out agreements protect a student's money and progress without waiting years for graduates.
- Count candidacy for more. If candidacy qualified a college for SARA, new universities could serve students across states while they build their records.
- Measure learning, not history. Assess what students actually learn, early and often, in place of judging age and inputs.
- Keep opening the accreditor market. The Department's 2026 interpretive rule points the right way. More competition among accreditors means more room for new models.
Come support Elton
Every university that exists today had a first class of students who chose it before anyone else knew what it would become, and a circle of supporters who believed it should exist. We built Elton for students who want a degree shaped around their curiosity, taught one-on-one by real professors, at a cost that doesn't bury them in debt.
Starting a university against these odds takes a community. You can help in whatever way fits you:
- Study with us. Explore our Student-Centered Bachelor's, read our plain-language FAQ on where we stand with accreditation, and start the free 30-minute application.
- Teach with us. Great professors make Elton work. Apply to teach.
- Give. Every gift helps a new nonprofit university clear these hurdles and keep tuition low. Support Elton.
- Spread the word. Share this post with anyone who thinks college costs too much. The more people understand these catch-22s, the sooner they change.
Sources
- Higher Learning Commission, Eligibility Requirements (CRRT.A.10.010)
- Distance Education Accrediting Commission, Eligibility Requirements and Applying for Accreditation
- BusinessBecause, How To Choose Your Business School Degree (on AMBA's 2023 student survey)
- Honderich & Lloyd-Hazlett, Factors Influencing Counseling Students' Enrollment Decisions: A Focus on CACREP, The Professional Counselor
- 34 CFR § 600.4, Institution of higher education
- Higher Learning Commission, Frequently Asked Questions
- U.S. GAO, Students Need More Information to Help Reduce Challenges in Transferring College Credits (GAO-17-574)
- NC-SARA, Eligibility for Participation and Key SARA Student Consumer Protections
- SARA North Carolina, Institutional Application
- Higher Learning Commission, Eligibility Requirements in Effect Prior to October 31, 2024 and Assumed Practices (archived)
- CHEA Almanac, SACSCOC profile
- 34 CFR § 602.14, Purpose and organization
- U.S. Department of Education, 2026 AIM negotiated rulemaking proposals
- University of Utah, State Authorization FAQ
- The Ohio State University, Physical Presence Activities by State
- University of Colorado, State Authorization FAQs
- Delaware Administrative Code, 14 DE Admin. Code 292 and Section 4.0
- Maryland, COMAR 13B.02.02.06
- New York, 8 NYCRR § 3.58 and Application Submission and Review
- Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, Institutional Authorization
- Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission, Use of "College" or "University"
- Minnesota Statutes § 136A.65, Approval of degree-granting schools
- EDUCAUSE, .edu Eligibility Requirements
- 34 CFR § 602.12, Accrediting experience
- U.S. Department of Education, Interpretive Rule to Reduce Barriers for New and Emerging Accrediting Agencies (2026)
- Nickow, Oreopoulos & Quan, The Impressive Effects of Tutoring on PreK-12 Learning, NBER Working Paper 27476 (2020)
- Heller, J. (1961). Catch-22. Simon & Schuster.