On August 20, 2026, the US Department of Education (the Department) published in the Federal Register its proposed regulations overhauling the federal accreditation framework for colleges and universities. The 354-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) largely tracks the consensus reached by the Department’s Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) negotiated rulemaking committee in May 2026.
We previously analyzed the AIM consensus and its potential implications for higher education institutions in our May 26, 2026, alert. That alert provides a detailed discussion of the proposed changes that we will not repeat here but instead provide a summary of the key points of the NPRM below.
Overview
As we discussed in May, the most significant practical change for institutions will be what accreditors will examine and what institutions must produce during accreditation reviews. The proposed regulations place greater emphasis on:
- Student outcomes and return on investment. Accreditors would evaluate program-level licensing, retention, completion, employment, and other outcomes, as well as educational and economic returns relative to the total cost of attendance.
- Academic freedom and intellectual diversity. Accreditors would evaluate institutional policies addressing academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, and intellectual diversity, including measures of student and faculty perceptions concerning viewpoint diversity. Although the NPRM does not adopt the regulatory definition of “academic freedom” proposed earlier in the rulemaking process, the Department includes a definition in the preamble as a “nonbinding” option for institutions and accreditors to adopt. Among other things, that proposed definition protects faculty research, publication, teaching, and discussion of matters germane to the course, while stating that academic freedom does not encompass introducing or soliciting discussion of material that is not germane to the subject being taught.
- Faculty evaluation and staffing flexibility. Institutions would require written, periodic faculty performance evaluations and sufficient flexibility in instructional staffing to respond to persistent changes in enrollment demand, program viability, or financial conditions.
- Civil rights and DEI-related practices. Accreditors could not require institutions to engage in practices that violate federal or state law, including unlawful preferences based on race, color, national origin, or sex. Accreditors must ensure that institutions are complying with applicable state and federal law on these issues.
- Research integrity. Accreditation reviews would encompass institutional policies addressing research misconduct and scholarly integrity, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and related practices.
- Transfer credit. Institutions would face additional requirements concerning the evaluation, documentation, disclosure, and appeal of transfer-credit decisions. Notably, the transfer-credit provisions apply to undergraduate coursework that is successfully completed and comparable in content and learning outcomes, rather than being limited to general education and elective credit.
- Accreditor choice and competition. The NPRM would lower barriers to new accreditors and make it easier for institutions to change or, in certain circumstances, hold multiple accreditations. The proposed requirements concerning separation between accreditors and affiliated professional or trade associations may also have significant implications for programmatic accreditors.
What happens next?
The NPRM was published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2026, triggering a 30-day public comment period. The Department has previously noted November 1, 2026, as a target date for publication of a final rule, with implementation currently proposed for July 1, 2027.
Importantly, the NPRM does not appear to require currently accredited institutions to undergo an out-of-cycle comprehensive accreditation review solely because the new regulations take effect. Institutions should, however, expect their next accreditation review to reflect revised accreditor standards and processes once accreditors implement the new federal requirements.
The NPRM implements the priorities established by Executive Order 14279, Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education, including increased accreditor competition, greater emphasis on student outcomes, intellectual diversity, institutional choice, and elimination of unlawful discrimination. It also reflects the administration’s broader policies concerning DEI and merit-based decision-making.
Institutions should continue to monitor their accreditors’ responses to the NPRM and any subsequent revisions to accreditation standards and review processes. In particular, institutions with upcoming accreditation reviews may want to begin assessing whether their existing policies, data, and documentation will satisfy the new expectations.
We will continue to monitor the rulemaking and provide further updates as the Department moves toward a final rule.