‘This Is a Chaos Proposal’ — Neg Reg Committee Continues Debate on Accreditation Changes – NASFAA
A group of higher education stakeholders reconvened for the second of three multi-day sessions organized to write federal regulations related to accreditation, and other issues such as distance education and innovation, faith-based entities, and the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant program.
The main committee is tasked with finalizing the regulations for all topics, but is spending its time focusing on accreditation, while subcommittees on each of the other three topics present recommendations specific to their areas for the full committee to consider. The negotiated rulemaking session—or “neg reg”—began its work Tuesday by considering several questions the Department of Education (ED) posed to negotiators related to potential changes on alternative standards and waivers for accrediting agencies, the separate and independent nature of accrediting agencies, the transfer of credit, and measures of student achievement.
Discussion on waivers and alternative standards began during the committee’s first meeting last month, when ED asked for ideas as to when and how accreditors could be allowed to waive certain criteria for institutions so as to not stifle innovation.