There are already accreditation groups such as ABET that review and score programs - http://www.abet.org/about-abet/ There's absolutely no reason to get the government into a system that already works.
The government is already involved in determining which groups are allowed to accredit colleges. Those accreditation groups tend to require things that prevent a college from simply selling the credential without the education.
The fact that the system already "works" does not mean it cannot be improved.
Also, if you want to argue that credentials and education should NOT be separated, should we merge them in cases where they are currently separated? E.g., should stock brokers be required to go to Series 7 school before taking the Series 7 exam? If not, why not?
