U.S. to Review Rules on Accreditation, Distance Education and More

The Biden administration announced late Wednesday that the Education Department would hold a series of negotiated rule-making sessions this spring to propose new rules regarding accreditation, distance education, student loan deferments and a range of other topics.

The administration’s plan for another major round of rule making—following the one it conducted in 2021–22 focused heavily on for-profit colleges—suggests that the White House and department plan to move aggressively to continue to influence postsecondary education in the second half of President Biden’s term. The news was announced on a day when most of Washington was focused on House Republicans’ difficulty in choosing a new leader, reflecting the struggles that Congress is likely to have making policy in the next two years. In that environment, executive actions could be the most significant source of policy changes at the federal level.

The eight topics, and a link to the administration’s brief description of what it will explore, follow: