C-RAC Releases Statement on Negotiated Rulemaking

Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)

April 3, 2024

On March 28, 2024, the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC) issued a statement in response to the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) recent negotiated rulemaking related to accreditation.

The letter offers commentary on key points discussed in the rulemaking sessions, particularly those related to student achievement.

The letter states:

While the student achievement and enforcement sections deserve fine tuning, institutional accreditors voted against the last ED revisions primarily on two other issues – limitations on an agency’s board membership, and an overbroad and unexplained expansion of required visits to additional and branch locations that would increase costs for institutions without a return on investment and could negatively affect healthy innovation.

Accreditors have been collaborating with ED to identify the kind of data that promotes analysis and benchmarking contemplated by these regulatory proposals. Improving the scope and timeliness of data on student outcomes remains critical. We remain eager to work with ED toward data that is more comprehensive, available faster, and goes beyond graduation rates to incorporate other elements of student success.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) is a member of C-RAC, and Heather F. Perfetti, President of MSCHE, serves as Vice-Chair.

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