ED Seeks Nominations for New Neg Reg Committee Focused on Accreditation
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
The Department of Education (ED) on Monday announced in the Federal Register that it will create a new negotiated rulemaking (neg reg) committee to reform the accreditation system, which will meet for two in-person sessions in April and May.
The neg reg committee, dubbed the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Committee, will address four topics related to accreditation: deregulation, student outcomes, merit, and integrity. In a press release on Monday, ED outlined its goals under each topic:
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Deregulation: Address regulations that hinder the entry of new accreditors. ED also intends to reduce “burdensome and duplicative requirements that hinder efficient reviews.” Additionally, ED seeks to require accrediting agencies to enforce their standards in ways that “minimize unnecessary costs and administrative burden on institutions.”
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Student Outcomes: Establish expectations that accrediting agencies assess “quality using data-driven student outcomes” rather than “unlawful DEI-based standards."
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Merit: “Revise regulations to ensure that accreditors’ standards comply with all federal civil rights laws and prohibit standards or policies that require or facilitate discrimination on the basis of immutable characteristics, such as race-based scholarships.”
- Integrity: Ensure accrediting agencies and institutions do not mislead students or the public with misrepresentative labels, such as “regional accreditor.” ED also intends to strengthen requirements to maintain “greater separation” between accrediting agencies and related trade associations. Lastly, ED wants to improve college affordability by reforming transfer-of-credit policies.
The press release also noted that the AIM Committee will focus on creating proposed regulations that simplify ED’s recognition process for emerging and existing accreditors, examine how accreditation “contributes to rising higher education costs and credential inflation,” and have safeguards against “undue influence” from related private trade associations, among other goals.
Last year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on reforming the accreditation system, which, among other things, called on ED to hold “accreditors accountable for unlawful actions.” ED said on Monday that the AIM Committee will “advance” Trump’s order.
In the Federal Register announcement, ED listed the constituency groups that will serve as negotiators for the AIM Committee, including public, private nonprofit, and proprietary institutions of higher education.
The deadline to submit nominations to serve as a negotiator is February 27, with instructions to submit nominations via the Federal Register announcement. The AIM Committee will meet for two five-day in-person sessions on April 13-17 and May 18-22.
“Rather than focusing on whether member institutions offer high-quality programs that benefit students and the workforce, the current accreditation regime has become a protectionist system that shields existing players, fuels rising costs, drives credential inflation, adds administrative bloat, allows undue influence from related trade associations, and promotes ideologically driven initiatives,” Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent said in a statement. “We welcome nominations from key stakeholders willing to challenge the status quo to help reform this unhealthy system, restore accountability, and ensure our higher education institutions deliver high-quality postsecondary education.”
Publication Date: 1/27/2026
David S | 1/27/2026 9:26:08 AM
This is going to be very, very ugly.
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