Historically, educational accreditation activities in the United States has been overseen by six regional accrediting agencies established in the late 19th and early 20th century to foster articulation between secondary schools and higher education institutions, particularly colleges and universities evaluation of prospective students. These six regional accreditation agencies are membership organizations of educational institutions within their geographic regions. Initially, the main focus of the organizations was to accredit secondary schools and to establish uniform college entrance requirements. Accreditation of colleges and universities followed later.
Regional accreditation of higher education applies to the entire institution, specific programs, and distance education within an institution as do many national accreditors. The higher education institutions holding regional accreditation are non-profit institutions.