Yesterday, ACTA submitted public comment on the notice of proposed rulemaking for the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Committee. The Department of Education’s proposed regulations represent a crucial first step in revitalizing higher education quality assurance. We have advocated for many of the Department’s proposed reforms for over 20 years and are heartened to see Secretary McMahon recognize the urgent need to ensure that accreditors return to their statutorily mandated role as guarantors of academic quality. By eliminating arbitrary barriers of entry for new, innovative accreditors and setting clear guidelines designed to allow institutions to partner with accreditors that best align with their missions, these regulations will introduce competition and innovation into what has historically been a closed market. It is our hope that these reforms will encourage accreditors to protect academic rigor, defend academic freedom, reduce institutional costs, further innovation, and protect board governance.
As is usually the case, these regulations are not faultless. We are worried that the language surrounding academic freedom protections may be interpreted in a way that harms private institutions and programs with specialized missions. In addition, the Department’s regulatory impact analysis suggests that these changes will require institutions, accreditors, and students to spend over 8.6 million hours and over $490 million annually on new administrative tasks. We are gravely concerned that this will overwhelm the administrative capacity of all but the most elite and prosperous universities and will ultimately drive of the cost of college. To address these concerns, we offered a number of recommendations that we hope to see addressed as public comments are reviewed.
Ultimately, this rulemaking can only be a prelude to true reform. Throughout this process, Department staff and the accreditation experts that served on the AIM Committee recognized that they were constrained by the underlying statutes in the Higher Education Act. Until Congress acts to reauthorize and revise the laws that underpin the system of accreditation, America’s colleges and universities will find themselves chained to a system of quality assurance that has not been responsive enough to the growing challenges institutions regularly face. The fact that this rulemaking has drawn over 5,300 public comments should demonstrate that accreditation reform is no longer a niche issue. We hope that the growing public interest in this area will lead to a legislative solution that serves students, protects taxpayers, and safeguards institutional autonomy. Let this rulemaking be a welcome first step towards this goal.
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ACTA in the NewsDepartment of Education
This week, higher education experts are meeting in Washington to update regulations about accreditation — the quality assurance process that oversees $110 billion taxpayer-funded financial aid dollars. Many of the conversations had during this process are valuable, like those about strengthening student outcomes and academic freedom protections. But the Trump administration’s reliance on making accreditation changes through regulatory action rather than […]
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