U.S. Focused on Consumer Protection, Accountability in Rules Overhaul
Katherine Knott
January 5, 2024
The Education Department wants to ensure that accreditors and states are doing their part to hold colleges accountable.
The Education Department wants greater oversight over colleges and universities and the entities that oversee them, and it’s eyeing a number of ways to make that happen.
With proposed changes to the rules for accreditation, distance education and some financial aid policies, the department is aiming to further reshape how the federal government holds colleges accountable and add additional consumer protections for students—building on the Biden administration’s efforts over the last three years.
“The department is inserting itself more deeply into higher education than it previously has been,” said Jan Friis, senior vice president for government affairs at the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
The department will review proposals for six topics over the next three months with an advisory committee tasked to weigh in and reach consensus on specific regulatory text as part of a process known as negotiated rule making. The first round of monthly talks begins Monday and will continue through Thursday. If the committee doesn’t reach consensus by March, the department is free to draft its own regulations, which will be subject to public comment. Regulations that come out of this rule making could take effect as early as July 1, 2025.
