WASC is supported through assessments to its member institutions. A member institution establishes its status of good standing by being designated as a fully accredited institution by the Commission after it successfully completes accreditation, a process by which institutions are evaluated to determine the degree to which they have established a mission in accordance with the recognized purposes of such institutions, and are fulfilling their avowed mission according to standards of good practice established by the Commission. While WASC is not a governmental organization, it nevertheless provides the public with a means to recognize institutions of value, those which have met established standards of good practice. Such recognition is essential to prospective students of those institutions and to other institutions who are asked to accept degrees or courses from other institutions. Thus the importance of the accreditation process is considerable.
Accreditation is carried out by visiting teams that evaluate institutions.
Members of teams are chosen from a pool of nominees that includes administrators, faculty members, and governing board members from WASC accredited institutions. Nominations come from chief administrators of colleges, academic senate presidents, and other institutional leaders. Team chairs, selected by the Commission, are almost always college presidents. The rest of the team members are from the ranks of administrators, faculty, and governing board members, occasionally with representatives from other state bodies. Several of the team members are faculty.