Straws in the Wind - Part 243

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Education is taking its next major step toward overhauling the college accreditation system, inviting higher ed policy experts to suggest nominees for an upcoming negotiating committee. But while the... announcement sheds more light on the Trump administration’s priorities, it provides no concrete plan on how they intend to make those goals a reality. President Trump has long declared accreditation reform his “secret weapon,” and the department had already signaled its desire for change.

Now, the department turns its attention to rewriting the rules that govern accreditors—a process that will involve convening an advisory committee to provide input on the changes. That committee will discuss up to 10 topics outlined in the Federal Register notice, though much of the attention is expected to focus on making it easier for new accreditors to join the market, increasing the agencies’ focus on data-driven student performance benchmarks, and scrubbing any existing diversity, equity and inclusion standards.

...Colleges have to be approved by a federally recognized accreditor in order to access federal student aid, and that gatekeeping role has led to more scrutiny on the agencies in recent years. So, while policy experts on both sides of the political aisle have long agreed that the accreditation system needs to improve, their views on how to make that happen differ.

...But accreditation policy experts, even those who support the idea in theory, say it’s unclear how ED can rework the process given several bright lines outlined in statute about what it takes to become a government-approved accreditor. For example, accreditors must have operated for at least two years before gaining recognition. And while Kyle Beltramini, a senior research fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, fully supports the idea of making it easier for new accreditors to enter the market, he said the time requirement is something that cannot be changed without Congressional approval...

...Along with allowing new accreditors to enter the ecosystem, the Trump administration has also aimed to shut down the so-called “woke” standards of existing ones—particularly when it comes to the consideration of demographics like race, gender and sexuality. (Many of which have already been rolled back or made more flexible in response to the administration’s political pressure.) But now... experts say the administration may also be looking to accomplish broader goals like boosting intellectual diversity and conservative representation among faculty. As is the case with introducing new accreditors, higher ed policy experts remain uncertain how the Trump administration intends to do so without violating the law...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/accreditation/2026/01/27/education-dept-eyes-rewrite-accreditation-rules.