RALEIGH -- How do you know if a college of university meets the standard? For years, that has come from accrediting agencies such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, but some wonder if those groups need more accountability.

A lawsuit that questions their power is now working its way through a Richmond federal appeals court. George Leef with the John William Pope Center for Higher Education says such groups place little emphasis on performance.

"Is the curriculum any good? Are the educational standards good? Do the students actually learn anything valuable? The results are much less important that the appearances and the inputs."

The Raleigh-based conservative Pope center is siding with a massage school that had its accreditation denied. Leef says the bigger issue is that federal funding only goes to schools with such "seals of approval" and other benchmarks are not considered.