Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965

Higher Education Reform HEA Accreditation Reform Congress established two primary responsibilities for the U.S. Department of Education in the HEA.

to ensure the administrative capacity and financial responsibility of colleges and universities that accept Title IV funds, and to ensure the quality of those institutions.

Congress did not endow the Department of Education with the authority to involve itself in academic quality issues relating to colleges and universities that participate in the Title IV student aid program.

The HEA allows the agency only to recognize accreditors, which are then supposed to provide quality assurance measures.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration has followed closely in the footsteps of the Obama administration by engaging in a politically motivated and inconsistent administration of the accrediting agency recognition process.

Today, accreditation determines whether Americans can access federal student aid benefits, transfer academic credits, enroll in higher-level degree programs, and even qualify for federal employment.

Unnecessarily focused on schools in a specific geographic region, institutional accreditation reviews have also become wildly expensive audits by academic peers that stifle innovation and discourage new institutions of higher education.

Of particular concern are efforts by many accreditation agencies to leverage their Title IV student loans and grants gatekeeper roles to force institutions to adopt policies that have nothing to do with academic quality assurance and student outcomes.

I don't want to misspeak.

I know that from peer to peer within Title IV, they have to accept the credits.

I'm not sure about non-Title IV and recognized to recognized.

I think that would stand as well.

The major focus, though, as you can imagine, Jerome, with these regulations, because it's federal regulations and it's for institutions that are Title IV eligible, it focuses on the peer to peer, if you will.

That would make sense because in the past, there was the – I don't know if it was in regulation, but it was the practice as regional accreditors would not accept credit from national accreditors.

Right.

And then you've got the unique circumstances like Florida, where you're required by state law to move every five to 10 years.