Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Education has announced another set of new requirements for accreditors, following up on executive action in November that increased transparency around student outcomes.
- Inside Higher Ed reports the new requirements will compel accreditors to give more and better-organized information to the federal government about sanctions assigned to colleges — and to make that information public, when possible.
- In a blog post about the changes, Undersecretary of Education Ted Mitchell outlined a move toward better communication between the agencies and the department, including more frequent meetings and information sharing, and he mentioned forthcoming guidance for accreditors looking to strengthen their focus on student outcomes.
Dive Insight:
The focus on student outcomes is a high priority for the department under the Obama administration. That has fueled the crackdown on for-profit colleges and created a complicated reality for accreditors, which were originally created to help institutions focus on self-improvement and have morphed into gatekeepers for federal financial aid.
Regulatory changes are surely in the pipeline for accreditation agencies but the timeline for implementation is an open question as Congress focuses on the 2016 elections. No one expects the Higher Education Act to be reauthorized in the next year, and it is unlikely the year after that — but changes like the latest ones could be adopted piecemeal through executive action or small bills through the legislature.