HEA Reauthorization Bill and Other Accreditation-Related Issues

HEADLINES

GOP Begins Rewrite of Federal Aid Law (Inside Higher Ed, November 30, 2017) “House education committee leaks its ambitious first draft of a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, with broad changes aimed at both deregulation and more accountability in how federal student aid is distributed and used.” (See also House GOP to Propose Sweeping Changes to Higher Education, Wall Street Journal [Subscription required], November 29, 2017)

A New and Improved Education Law (U.S. News & World Report, November 28, 2017) “The next Higher Education Act should create a process for certifying the quality of existing institutions and newcomers alike, and recalibrate the accreditation process to measure student outcomes, instead of institutional inputs.”

University of North Carolina Faculty Tries to Hide Behind Accreditation (National Review, November 20, 2017) The [UNC] faculty is imploring the regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to step in and tell the UNC Board of Governors that it cannot make the changes it wants (such as preventing the law school’s Center for Civil Rights from engaging in ideological litigation) without violating SACS’s standards.”