Fairfield Bellarmine is fully accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), a voluntary, peer-based, non-governmental membership association which promotes educational excellence and quality assurance to its over 200 member institutions both inside and outside the United States, all of which are degree granting post-secondary educational institutions offering higher education.

Accreditation serves two purposes: assuring the public of quality and fostering institutional improvement. The NECHE Commission’s Standards for Accreditation establish criteria for institutional quality. The Standards allow the Commission to appraise a wide variety of collegiate institutions, differing in purpose, size, organization, scope of program, clientele served, support, and control. The non-prescriptive nature of the Standards is meant to encourage innovation aimed at increasing the effectiveness of higher education.