One Final House Higher Education Hearing Before the Midterms And One Week Left To Share Public Comments on the Accreditation NPRM
Overview
While Congress has already passed key legislation to keep the federal government operating until December, both chambers are set to make a final push to complete consideration of legislation in both chambers before adjourning for an extended period of time leading up to the 2026 midterm elections. This week the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to consider a multitude of energy and environmental bills, while the U.S. Senate May devel into Artificial Intelligence legislation and a myriad of other bills. By weeks end the House will leave for seven weeks and by the end of the month the Senate will be shuttered for over a month as well. Why is this of interest to us? Because these departures are the beginning of a critical period of monitoring, assessment, and planning for what is, or is not likely to take place on Capitol Hill for the remainder of 2026 and the next two years once the newly elected House and Senate of the 120^st Congress convene in 2027.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This week the two key issues CSPEN is focused upon included further review, development, and drafting of comments in response to the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and our first look at the key races and significant changes we can already forecast regarding the departures of members of the education, appropriations, and veterans affairs committees important to the higher education community.
Here is a brief update and announcement regarding this week’s CSPEN Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar being held on Wednesday, September 16, not our regular Thursday scheduled time.
Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization: Secretary’s Recognition of Accrediting Agencies: Institutional Eligibility under the Higher Education Act, as Amended, Student Assistance General Provisions NPRM Public Comment Deadline One Week Away
With a week remaining before the Monday, September 21^st deadline for the submission of public comments on the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization: The Secretary’s Recognition of Accrediting Agencies: Institutional Eligibility Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as Amended, Student Assistance General Provisions Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (us.list-manage.com/6izOAGQbm8h?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) the public has already submitted over fourteen hundred (1,412) comments on the Regulations.gov website (us.list-manage.com/3ujyW5xYpwc?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) .
Since the NPRM was release by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) on August 17 and published in the Federal Register on August 20 CSPEN has held several webinars and shared information regarding the contents of the NPRM, our summary of the regulations, and our efforts to develop potential comments based upon outreach within the community. This Wednesday, in advance of next week’s public comment deadline, CSPEN will provide a summary of our collective review, analysis and collaboration with many sources within the community.
During the webinar we will share proposed comments we have developed and seek your feedback to assist us in the development of our final comments.
Congress Prepares to Depart for Midterm Elections
During the final week before the House departs to hit the campaign trail in advance of the November midterm elections the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold one final hearing related to higher education. On Wednesday, September 16, Subcommittee Chairman Burgess Owens has scheduled a hearing entitled “Who Gets the Scholarship? How the Global Shift in College Sports Affects Americans (us.list-manage.com/pnXXn12MDKe?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) .”
CSPEN will monitor this hearing and provide a summary during our webinar later that afternoon.
What’s Next
In addition to the critical discussion on the AIM NPRM, CSPEN will also provide our first look at this year’s edition of our Election Scorecard. Not only will we take a first look at the polling and prognostications regarding which party is likely to be in the majority in both chambers, we will also take a critical look at the make up of the key committees and the considerable number of vacancies which we can already project and more.
Following Wednesday’s presentation, we will be providing weekly updates each week leading up to the midterms and providing immediate analysis following the conclusion of the midterms in November. Join us Wednesday as we start to handicap the pending elections, the key races impacting membership on the committees most relevant to our students, your institutions and the employers of your graduates.
