[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 236 (Thursday, December 11, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57454-57456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22555]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID: ED-2025-OPE-1009]
Request for Information; Updates to the Accreditation Handbook
AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is issuing this
request for information (RFI) to receive specific feedback on necessary
updates to the Accreditation Handbook. Similar to the update to the
Accreditation Handbook undertaken in 2019, the Department seeks to
improve this important handbook to communicate clear and concise
information to users so that the process for the Department's
recognition of an accrediting agency is transparent, efficient, and not
unduly burdensome. This RFI may also inform the Department's potential
reforms to the accreditation regulatory process and may be
complimentary to the public comments already received under the
Department's call for Public Feedback for the Development of Proposed
Regulations and Establish Negotiated Rulemaking Committee published on
April 4, 2025. Information relating to this RFI or the Accreditation
Handbook may also be discussed at future Negotiated Rulemakings held by
the Department over the next year.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 26, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at www.regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation
or cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please
contact the program contact listed below under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments by fax or by email, or
comments submitted after the comment period closes. To ensure that the
Department does not receive duplicate copies, please submit your
comments only once. Additionally, please include the Docket ID at the
top of the comments.
The Department strongly encourages you to submit any comments or
attachments in Microsoft Word format. If you must submit a comment in
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), the Department strongly
encourages you to convert the PDF to ``print-to-PDF'' format, or to use
some other commonly used searchable text format. Please do not submit
the PDF in a scanned format. Using a print-to-PDF format allows the
Department to electronically search and copy certain portions of your
submissions to assist in improving the Accreditation Handbook.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Please go to regulations.gov to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using regulations.gov,
including instructions for finding a rule on the site and submitting
comments, is available on the site under ``FAQ.''
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to generally make comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing on the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters
should include in their comments only information about themselves that
they wish to make publicly available. Commenters should not include in
their comments any information that identifies other individuals or
that permits readers to identify other individuals. The Department may
not make comments that contain personally identifiable information
(PII) about someone other than the commenter publicly available on
regulations.gov for privacy reasons. This may include comments where
the commenter refers to a third-party individual without using their
name if the Department determines that the comment provides
[[Page 57455]]
enough detail that could allow one or more readers to link the
information to the third party. If your comment refers to a third-party
individual, to help ensure that your comment is posted, please consider
submitting your comment anonymously to reduce the chance that
information in your comment about a third party could be linked to the
third party. The Department will also not make comments that contain
threats of harm to another person or to oneself available on
regulations.gov.
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Daggett, Office of
Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202. Email: [email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, directs the
U.S. Department of Education (Department) to determine if an
accrediting agency or association is a reliable authority as to the
quality of education or training for the purposes of eligibility for
title IV, HEA programs or other Federal purposes. The HEA and its
implementing regulations further outline criteria an accrediting agency
must meet to be recognized by the Department. These include having
standards to assess an institution's success with respect to student
achievement and other activities, as well as having established
procedures to review, evaluate, and withdraw accreditation from an
institution or program. This recognition process should ideally ensure
that Federal student aid funding, backed by taxpayers, is directed only
to institutions or programs that provide a high-quality, high-value
postsecondary education. An accrediting agency's oversight and
assessment of educational quality are critical components of the
program integrity triad, alongside State authorization and
institutional certification at the Federal level.
The Department maintains an Accreditation Handbook (``Handbook'')
(https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation-handbook.pdf) to clarify requirements to receive and maintain
Department recognition as an accrediting agency or association. The
Handbook contains information about the Secretary's Criteria for
Recognition and submission information, lists the regulatory
requirements, and provides direction as to how an accrediting agency
may demonstrate compliance with the requirements of a application for
recognition (``petition'') and file review. The Handbook does not
supersede applicable law or regulations; rather, it is intended to be a
useful resource to describe in plain terms how to meet the Secretary's
Criteria for Recognition and submit a successful petition to the
Department.
Purpose of This Request for Information
As directed by President Trump in Executive Order 14279, Reforming
Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education (April 23, 2025), the
Department intends to update the Handbook to ensure that the
accrediting agency recognition process is transparent, efficient, and
not unduly burdensome. By updating the Handbook, the Department intends
to aid reform of the accreditation process in an effort to realign
accreditation with evaluating whether an institution provides a high-
quality, high-value education for all students. The Executive Order
signifies a historic commitment to reforming all aspects of the
accreditation process and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens
associated with it. This includes the Department's renewed commitment
to undertaking a critical review of the recognition process for both
initial and renewing accrediting agencies and improving transparency in
the Department's related resources. As such, the Department invites
feedback and specific language suggestions on how the Handbook should
be updated.
The Department has already implemented certain policy changes and
actions it was directed to undertake in Executive Order 14279,
including lifting the temporary pause on accepting and reviewing new
applications for initial recognition from new accrediting agencies and
associations on May 2, 2025. The Department intends to update the
Handbook to reflect the resumption of these activities and thoroughly
review its existing practices to address any other revisions that may
be necessary due to policy position changes.
The Department believes this RFI is a critical next step to gather
input on how to reform the accreditation system to improve student
outcomes, and this may accompany other actions to implement Executive
Order 14279. To that end, the Department particularly invites
commenters to consider the following questions:
What policies or practices should be updated in the
current version of the Handbook from February 2022? Are there
particular pain points that the Department should be aware of? What
policies or standards are encouraging innovation or reducing college
costs within the postsecondary education sector and should be retained?
Are there any inaccuracies, inconsistencies or inclusions
within the Handbook that are counter to the regulations contained in 34
CFR 602? Additionally, are there any items within the law or
regulations that need further explanation?
What policies or practices could be clearer? Do interested
parties have suggestions on the process by which we update the Handbook
in the event Federal regulations are further revised in future
rulemakings? In what specific formats would stakeholders prefer to see
clarifying information or updates, whether that be via an Electronic
Announcement, in a Dear Colleague Letter, or regulations?
Is the Handbook serving its intended purpose? How can it
better assist accrediting agencies and associations in evaluating the
quality of educational institutions and programs or in applying for
Federal recognition?
What might be an alternative solution to offer guiding
advice to accrediting agencies and associations outside of the
Handbook? How can the Handbook be designed to be less burdensome?
How could accreditation standards be updated to
incentivize intellectual diversity on campus? What guidance or
standards, if any, can the Handbook provide to institutions and
programs to help achieve this goal?
Keeping in mind that the Department intends to take
further action on this subject matter, what would stakeholders suggest
as methods to determine appropriate assessment benchmarks, and what
data sources or validation methods could be used to ensure those
benchmarks reflect student competency? If new assessment methods are
developed, how should the Department evaluate the feasibility and
administrative burden associated with developing or administering new
assessments? How do stakeholders suggest that the Department present
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these benchmarks in updated guidance materials?
Commenters may also consider providing comment on the totality of
the accreditation process and comment on specific proposals contained
within Executive Order 14279, or other innovative ideas related to
accreditation. For example, Executive Order 14279 outlines new
principles of a student-oriented accreditation system, and information
on how these principles may be reflected in an updated Handbook could
be useful. The Department also welcomes feedback on any other
provisions contained within Executive Order 14279, including how to
evaluate credential inflation. This feedback may pertain either to the
standards contained in regulations, and how these might be modified by
rulemaking, or the Handbook, and whether commenters believe the
guidance contained therein incentivizes or encourages credential
inflation at institutions.
While feedback received during the previous public comment period
on Title IV topics will be used to update the Handbook, the Department
believes this RFI is an opportunity for commenters to focus on any
specific and additional changes to the Handbook that may be necessary
to improve the clarity and ease of use of the Handbook.
The Department also encourages commenters to consider the totality
of the Handbook, and its overall usefulness. We invite commenters to
propose bold new ideas on how this resource can better help accrediting
agencies ultimately validate the highest quality in postsecondary
education. Resources like the Handbook should provide clear and concise
information on how to comply with the HEA and its implementing
regulations but should not include additional compliance requirements
or set new policy. Regularly updating the Handbook is crucial for
ensuring that the guidance provided to accrediting agencies remain
relevant and effective. Overall, an effective Handbook should minimize
the number of questions the Department receives from stakeholders,
streamline the recognition process for both initial and renewing
accrediting agencies, and aid in maintaining the integrity of the
accreditation process.
This is an RFI only. This RFI is not a Request for Proposal (RFP)
or a promise to publish a revised Handbook in a specific timeline. This
RFI does not commit any Department office to contract for any supply or
service. We are not seeking contract proposals. The Department will not
pay for any information or administrative costs that you may incur in
responding to this RFI. The documents and information submitted in
response to this RFI become the property of the U.S. Government and
will not be returned.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents ED published in the Federal
Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, you
must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
You may also access documents the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search feature
at this site, you can limit your search to documents published by ED.
David Barker,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department
of Education.
[FR Doc. 2025-22555 Filed 12-10-25; 8:45 am]
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