This month, on April 3, the U.S. Department of Education completed the first part of its months long effort to deregulate higher education in the name of “innovation.”1 The process was as wonky, arcane, and convoluted as anything in the halls of the federal government. But the result set in motion would be a momentous change for taxpayers and college students: the unraveling of federal oversight of college quality.
The Education Department and a group of stakeholders reached an agreement on the new set of rules, which would rewrite how the department oversees college accreditation agencies and how these organizations are supposed to ensure college quality. The agreed-upon language2 still needs to be published for public comment, but—if finalized—the Trump administration will have accomplished the largest unraveling in history of rules that guide accreditation, weakening the ability of accreditors to serve as watchdogs over colleges and removing mechanisms to hold accreditors responsible for their oversight. If the past serves as a predictor,3 the revised rules will mean that millions more students will enroll in low-quality colleges that fail to leave them with a quality education, and taxpayers will foot much of the bill by covering federal loans that students will be unable to pay.