Several Key Announcements and Actions This Week We Wanted To Make Sure You Were Aware Of
Overview
Heading into the final week of October and just eleven days until the 2026 Midterm Elections, CSPEN has been focused on two very important issues related to accreditation – including the pending publication of the Final Rule on Accreditation which was submitted by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB/OIRA) on Monday (10/19) and Wednesday’s (10/21) announcement of the final decisions by Under Secretary Nicholas Kent with regard to the accrediting agencies National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity’s (NACIQI) ; the Department’s posting of release of 90/10 information, and continuing to track and update the polling data related to the thirty-five U.S. Senate seats and over twenty U.S. House of Representatives races which are “toss ups” races which will play a significant role in determining whether the GOP will retain control of one or both chambers or will be
presided over in the 120th Congress by the Democrats.
Here is a brief summary of the each of these important topics and notice of a special Wednesday edition of CSPEN’s Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar next week – we will be enroute Thursday to the Arizona Private School Association’s annual meeting, so we are moving the webinar up a day.
Accreditation Final Rule
On Monday, with just thirteen days remaining until November 1st , the Department sent its final version of 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 (RIN 1840-AD82) revisions to OMB/OIRA for review.
This action is the second to last step before publication of a Final Rule in the Federal Register and the last time the public can provide comments and recommendation by requesting a meeting with representatives of the Administration and the Department under the process established by Executive Order 12866. The higher education community is likely familiar with the EO 12866 process as CSPEN and many other organizations requested and engaged in meetings earlier this year to provide perspectives on the three regulatory packages developed to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill/Working Families Tax Cut statutory provisions.
Since posting of the draft final rule on the OMB/OIRA website on Monday, CSPEN has been tracking the status of any requests from the public for meetings under the EO 12866 process and none appear to have been requested as the meeting tracker shows “No records found.”
As a result, CSPEN is sharing an ALL-POINTS BULLETIN with the higher education community to be on the lookout for Department release unofficially of the Final Rule any time now and publication in the Federal Register by no later than next Friday, October 29th in order for the regulations to comply with the Master Calendar requirements.
Since the beginning of the Federal Negotiations seeking to develop new regulations to align the accreditation regulations with the directives contained in E.O. 14279 – Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education issued on April 23, 2025, the Department has made clear their intentions to publish the final regulations by November 1st to ensure that they become effective July 1, 2027.
CSPEN will notify the community immediately upon the release of the Final Rule and summary and analysis following our initial review.
Department of Education’s Accrediting Agency Recognition Decisions
Just two days later the Department made another key announcement related to accreditation when the Under Secretary’s office announced the Department’s final decisions regarding the eligibility of accrediting agencies which went before the NACIQI during the July 22-23 Meeting. Included in the July Agenda were six agencies seeking renewal recognition by the Commission – including the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences (NACCAS), the Council on Occupational Education (COE) and the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) which received very different recommendations from the Commission based upon the NACIQI staff review.
* The Commissioners voted 9-3 to recommend that the Department – which makes the final determination – deny NACCAS’s petition for renewal based upon the NACIQI staff’s report.
* The Commissioners voted 11-1 to recommend that the Department continue the COE’s petition for renewal with required reporting and correction actions based upon the NACIQI staff’s report.
* The Commissioners voted 11-0 (with 1 recusal) to recommend that the Department continue ACCSC’s petition for renewal based upon the NACIQI staff’s report.
The Department’s Senior Department Official – Under Secretary Nicholas Kent – deviated from the Commissioner’s recommendations on two of the three recommendations provided by the Commissioners.
Instead of withdrawing NACCAS’s recognition, the Department granted the agency one year of continued eligibility to enable the accrediting agency to address the compliance concerns the staff reported and mandated that the agency could not accepting any new institutions while it works to address the double-digit number of areas of non-compliance contained in the staff report.
The Department also deviated from the Commission’s recommendation regarding COE’s renewal of recognition, placing the same restrictions on COE as those required of NACCAS.
And finally, the Department accepted the Commission’s recommendation providing recognition to ACCSC.
90/10 Enforcement
Proprietary institutions of higher education should also be in the lookout for the release of new 90/10 compliance information for the reporting year ending December 2024. Information related to 90/10 compliance and non-compliance is coming out of the Department.
2026 Midterm Elections
CSPEN continues to monitor and provide updates regarding the pundit’s commentary and latest polling data on the 1/3 – plus two seats (35 in total) Senate seats to be determined on November 3rd, as well as the all 435 seats that will be determined in the House – with an emphasis on basically two dozen seats that are the contested races likely to determine the majority and minority.
