The U.S. Education Department has finalized a new college accreditation rule that changes how colleges and universities keep the seal of approval they need for their students to receive federal financial aid, with new requirements on student outcomes, transfer credits and what the department calls intellectual diversity.
Accreditors are independent nonprofit groups that review colleges’ courses, faculty, facilities and finances. Colleges pay dues to them, and a school must be accredited by a federally recognized accreditor for its students to use federal grants and loans, including Pell Grants. Congress has said accreditors are independent of the government, but the Education Department decides which accreditors are recognized and sets rules they must follow.
The college accreditation rule, titled Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization, was published in the Federal Register on Oct. 30. According to the American Council on Education, the largest association of college presidents, the rule adds more than 20 new requirements for accreditors to use when they evaluate schools. Those requirements cover student outcomes and the economic value of academic programs, academic freedom, intellectual diversity, research practices, and compliance with federal and state laws.
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On student outcomes, accreditors must give more weight to results such as graduates’ earnings, licensing exam pass rates, graduation rates and how many students stay enrolled, NPR reported. That piece has some support from both parties. On intellectual diversity, accreditors must review school policies that the department says ensure students are exposed to a range of viewpoints. NPR reported that how that requirement will work in practice is unclear.
For students, one of the most direct changes involves transfer credits. When a school refuses to accept credits a student earned somewhere else, it may have to give a written explanation course by course, according to the American Council on Education. Students who move from a community college to a four year school, or who switch schools midway, often lose credits and time when credits do not transfer.
The college accreditation rule also makes it easier for schools to switch accreditors or add a new one, and easier for new accrediting agencies to win federal recognition. The department says that will lower costs and spur innovation. One new accreditor is the Commission for Public Higher Education, which is backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who wants to replace the longtime accreditor of Florida’s public universities. Public university systems in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have also said they will switch to it, according to NPR.
NPR reported that Donald Trump described an accreditation overhaul in a 2023 campaign video as a “secret weapon” against what he called the “radical left.” The Education Department says the rules “do not mandate any specific policies” and do not give it power to police speech.
Critics see it differently. PEN America, a free expression nonprofit, warned that the intellectual diversity requirement could open the door to political interference in higher education. Bob Shireman, a former Education Department official in the Obama administration, told NPR the rule gives the department authority to meddle in colleges’ internal affairs, and warned that easy switching between accreditors could create “whack a mole” oversight. Beth Akers of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, supports much of the overhaul but told NPR she is uncomfortable with the government judging whether schools teach ideology. The American Council on Education and 46 other higher education groups had warned in September comments that the rule could add paperwork, weaken colleges’ independence and go beyond what the Higher Education Act allows.
Under the college accreditation rule, accreditors may begin putting the changes in place as early as Jan. 1, 2027, but cannot impose new requirements on schools before the rule takes effect on July 1, 2027, ahead of the 2027 to 2028 school year, according to the American Council on Education. Congress could still try to overturn the rule under the Congressional Review Act, a law that lets Congress cancel a recently finished federal rule with a joint resolution that passes both chambers and is signed by the president or survives a veto. Lawsuits could also change how or when it takes effect. NPR reported that because the department went through the traditional rulemaking process, the rule will be difficult for Democrats to undo.
