Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization Non-Federal Negotiator Jeffrey Bodimer To Share His Views on Accreditation Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
Overview
CSPEN is honored to announce that Jeffrey Bodimer, VP of Regulatory Compliance, Post University and Non-Federal negotiator who represented Proprietary Institutions of Higher Education, as defined in 34 CFR 600.5 throughout the 2026 Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Committee Negotiated Rulemaking has once again accepted our invitation to share with the community his assessment of the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register last week.
As previously shared by CSPEN, the NPRM, entitled, “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 (us.list-manage.com/1AKSkZGUE42?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) ” was released by the Department on August 20th for public review and comment. In our initial email we noted that the NPRM is a focused effort on behalf of the Department to fulfill the goals and objectives of President Trump to overhaul the accreditation system.
As noted in the NPRM Summary, “The Department proposes to revise the existing accrediting agency recognition regulations at 34 CFR part 602 to implement the directives set forth in Executive Order 14279, Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education, and other Administration priorities, align the regulations more closely with statute, and reduce regulatory burden.”
For a week now, CSPEN and all of the higher education community and other interested and effected parties have begun the process of reviewing, evaluating, and developing comments based upon the Federal Register notice and the “Directed Question” included in the proposed regulations. The deadline for submission of public comments is September 21st.
CSPEN has used the first week to thoroughly review the NPRM and has also been reaching out within the community to get their initial reaction and comments on the vast set of accreditation regulation proposals and one of the first individuals we reached out to was Jeff – who just the week before had partnered with Dr. Michale S. McComis, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (the lead Non-federal negotiator representing Institutional accrediting agencies recognized by the Secretary under 34 CFR part 602) as co-presenters of a general session at CSPEN’s 12th Annual Conference sharing insights and analysis on the negotiations and the pending (at that time) NPRM.
In conversations earlier this week Jeff said, “The NPRM is a positive step toward leveling the playing field for all institutions by establishing more consistent expectations around program-level outcomes and the transfer of credit. As these provisions move from policy to practice, accreditors will play a key role in ensuring implementation is fair, transparent, and focused on student success.”
Following a discussion on our review of the NPRM and some of the key issues, we asked if Jeff would be willing to once again share with the community his thoughts and comments and he agreed!
What’s Next
Next week, CSPEN’s regularly scheduled Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar will be a focused review and discussion on the AIM NPRM. At that time CSPEN will share details on our comprehensive section-by-section summary, but the majority off the time will be the opportunity to hear from Jeff his perspective on the NPRM in general and a deeper dive on five key topics contained within the NPRM—
1. Student Outcomes and Performance Metrics
2. Changing Accreditors / Accreditation Competition
3. Legal Compliance and Accreditor Responsibility
4. Conflict of Interest and Accreditor Independence
5. Transfer Credit Requirements and Student Mobility
