The U.S. Education Department (ED) last week issued a “Dear Colleague” letter (DCL) to facilitate the ability of higher education institutions to switch accreditors for the purposes of Title IV approval. It comes on the heels of the president’s April 23 executive order addressing what it called a “dysfunctional” accreditation system.
“We must foster a competitive marketplace both amongst accreditors and colleges and universities in order to lower college costs and refocus postsecondary education on improving academic and workforce outcomes for students and families,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement accompanying the DCL.
She added that the new DCL and recent executive order “will ensure this Department no longer stands as a gatekeeper to block aspiring innovators from becoming new accreditors nor will this Department unnecessarily micromanage an institution’s choice of accreditor.”
Biden actions
The DCL is a direct response, and to some extent a rebuke, of the Biden administration’s policies in this area, which created new processes at ED for institutions wanting to change accreditors. Biden’s actions were widely seen as a response to state legislation that required institutions to change accreditors — in the case of Florida, only once, but in North Carolina, every time a college needs to renew its institutional accreditation.
The DCL is a clear shift of policy gears, sending a strong signal that ED welcomes these state actions or at least has no reservations about them.
In 2020, based on “consensus” achieved in negotiated rulemaking, the initial Trump administration enabled these switches in the first place. Previously, public and private non-profit institutions of higher education were tethered to their regional accrediting agencies. But the DCL also appears to encourage institutions to change accreditors for reasons other than simply being required to.
The DCL is forthright, stating that ED “has no authority to substantively intervene in the decision of an institution or program to select a particular accrediting agency (or to intervene with a State to direct its public institutions to seek a new accrediting agency). The Department has the obligation to ensure accrediting agencies hold institutions accountable in accordance with the requirements of the HEA, but it may not invent new authorities for itself beyond this.”
The DCL states that institutions may opt to select a new accreditor because of an institution’s religious mission, shift in academic program offerings, compliance with a state law, desire to set stronger academic standards or other reasons.
New processes
ED is now giving itself 30 days to approve an institution’s requested change (or addition) of accreditor. If an institution submits the request and accompanying materials that demonstrate reasonable cause for the switch, it will be deemed as approved in that period, even if ED has not formally acted.
The executive order also lifts the Biden administration’s moratorium on recognizing new accreditors. Last fall, ED stopped accepting new accreditor applications, stating that it had already received an inordinate number of applications.
More executive branch actions on accreditation are expected.
