The Education Department’s (ED) negotiated rulemaking committee on Thursday reached consensus on a regulatory package that will directly impact institutional practice.
The draft rule substantially revises the specific requirements and procedures that accrediting agencies must follow to be recognized by ED to approve institutions for federal student aid. The negotiators’ consensus means that the department is bound, with defined exceptions, to formally issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that tracks the agreed-upon regulation.
The new provisions engage ED in a variety of new aspects of campus activity — touching academic, legal, financial, human resources and many other areas.
Some of the new provisions include:
- Revised standards of student achievement, which now must be examined at the program level, with a new required focus on post-completion earnings, among other things.
- New procedures for ensuring that accreditors evaluate the processes by which institutions enhance viewpoint and intellectual diversity, with an explicit role for the student voice.
- New requirements related to the monitoring of institutional expenditures, to ensure that they are adequately focused on cost efficiency.
- New standards on the evaluation of faculty.
Provisions on transfer
Of great significance for community colleges is a series of transfer provisions. Two extremely important aspects of the adopted package include a requirement that institutions:
- Provide a comprehensive statement of all transfer of credit established by the institution, which must consider the comparability and applicability of coursework completed or credit earned at another institution that is accredited by an agency recognized by the secretary.
- Award transfer credit for undergraduate programs for coursework successfully completed at another institution that is accredited by an agency recognized by the secretary and is comparable in content and learning outcomes to the institution’s own course offerings, unless the institution provides a written basis for denial in accordance with its academic standards or curricular requirements.
- Provides the student an opportunity to appeal the decision within 15 calendar days of receipt of the institution’s written notification if an institution declines to award transfer credit under item (2) above.
What’s next
Despite the far-reaching nature of these proposed changes — which, again, derive from the leverage that the federal government holds over the process, given its role as Title IV “gatekeeper” — much of the impact of the regulations remains to be seen, assuming their final form is similar to that just agreed upon.
A string of parties – accreditors, institutions, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), ED, students and the public – will ultimately determine how the regulations play out in practice. Different administrations have held different views on accreditation, though in recent years, both Republican and Democratic agencies have gotten deeply involved in this issue.
Upcoming webinars
AACC plans to hold a webinar on the draft regulations in the coming weeks. Also look for a more general update on Washington events for AACC members on June 10. Register today.
