The U.S. Department of Education issued an interpretive rule aimed at lowering barriers for new accrediting agencies seeking federal recognition, a move the Trump administration says will inject competition into what officials described as a stagnant and failed quality-assurance system for colleges and universities.
The rule clarifies aspects of the department's accreditor recognition process, including when accreditation activities officially begin — a key factor in satisfying a requirement that agencies conduct two years of accrediting activities before winning federal recognition. It also commits the department to determining whether a new applicant meets basic eligibility requirements within 60 calendar days and to completing a full review of written petitions within six to 12 months.
Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said accreditors had lost the public's trust by prioritizing "partisan ideologies" over measurable student outcomes.
"The accreditation market has been stagnant for far too long," Kent said in a statement accompanying the release.
The action is the latest in a series of moves the administration has taken since President Trump signed Executive Order 14279, Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education. Those steps have included lifting a moratorium that restricted institutions from switching accreditors, awarding nearly $15 million through the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to support emerging accreditors, and announcing a negotiated rulemaking committee — the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization Committee — set to convene in April and May 2026.
The department noted that since 1999, only four new accrediting agencies have received federal recognition with the authority to establish institutional eligibility for Title IV federal student aid programs. Accreditation serves as a critical gateway to that funding, giving accreditors significant leverage over which colleges and programs students can use federal loans and grants to attend.
Critics of the current system have long argued that the small, entrenched pool of recognized accreditors lacks accountability and has failed to prevent poor-performing institutions from accessing federal financial aid. Defenders counter that accreditation provides an essential check on academic quality and that weakening its standards could expose students to predatory or low-quality institutions.
The department said that the rule is nonbinding and interpretive in nature, meaning it does not carry the force of law but signals how the agency currently interprets existing regulations under 34 CFR Part 602. A broader regulatory overhaul is expected to follow through the AIM rulemaking process next spring.
