Accreditation Negotiated Rulemaking Publishes Issue Papers and Announces Negotiators

Publication Number 109 January 5, 2024

Accreditation Negotiated Rulemaking Publishes Issue Papers and Announces Negotiators

The Department of Education (USDE) has published its issue papers and draft regulatory changes for selected negotiators to consider in the upcoming negotiated rulemaking, which will be held from January 8 through January 12, 2024. There will be subsequent negotiated rulemaking sessions in February and March. All negotiating sessions will be virtual, and the public will be able to view the meetings.

The Institutional Quality and Program Integrity Committee will discuss six topics, three of which impact accreditation: Accreditation, State Authorization, and Distance Education. USDE, in its release, describes its agenda affecting accreditation in this way:

“Accreditation … Through its proposals, the Department seeks to implement a system of risk-based review, increase the rigor of accreditation, and support accreditation as a critical pillar of the program integrity triad.”

“State Authorization rules which govern the requirements for an institution to be considered legally authorized by the state …, a requirement for Title IV eligibility. Proposals and questions for discussion seek to address the requirements for state approval and licensure, as well as state authorization reciprocity agreement to ensure adequate oversight of institutions.”

“Distance Education rules which govern the offering of distance education. Proposals under consideration would enable the Department to get better data and compare outcomes for students enrolled online and to better protect students in the event of college closures. Proposals also seek to strengthen the Department’s ability to oversee distance education programs overall.”

The committee’s non-federal negotiators were selected by the USDE from groups USDE identified as constituencies. The accreditors' negotiators are from institutional accrediting organizations and programmatic accrediting organizations.

CHEA will continue to work in the best interests of institutions as it follows negotiated rulemaking and works with negotiators.