The negotiated rulemaking committee focused on accreditation and innovation reached consensus on three buckets of issues.
In a turn of events that seemed unlikely just weeks ago, on April 3 the negotiated rulemaking committee the US Department of Education assembled to consider rules focused on accreditation and innovation over the past four months unexpectedly reached consensus on three “buckets” of issues (defined in our January post on the rulemaking). The department plans to publish several Notices of Proposed Rulemaking based on the committee’s consensus language, on which it will solicit public comment. Since the department intends to put the new rules into effect on July 1, 2020, it must publish final rules by November 1.
Reaching consensus is a significant feat in and of itself, given that previous rulemaking committees organized by the department over the course of many years have almost uniformly failed to reach consensus, leaving the department free to draft its own proposed rules. But what is even more unprecedented is how these revisions will permeate throughout all of higher education, impacting the entire regulatory triad (in addition to the department, state authorizing agencies and accreditors), institutions, service providers and students. The areas of emphasis included revisions to rules regulating the recognition and operation of accrediting agencies, distance education, state authorization and faith-based institutions. Also included are revisions affecting recipients of TEACH Grants intended to provide relief to students whose grants have been improperly converted to loans.