Trump administration plans major shake-up of college oversight rules

Liam Knox, Bloomberg News on Apr 6, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education proposed a raft of changes to college oversight guidelines on Monday, moves that would upend the traditional regulatory framework for universities and amplify the Trump administration’s higher education policy agenda.

The shift, laid out in a department memo viewed by Bloomberg, would tie colleges’ federal funding to White House priorities like eradicating DEI initiatives and promoting political diversity among faculty. The proposals include measures to “address the college affordability issue” by cracking down on high tuition rates and requiring accreditors to consider post-graduate earnings when certifying degree programs for federal funding.

They would also ease the pathway to federal recognition for new accrediting organizations like the Commission for Public Higher Education, backed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, allowing them to fast-track the application process.

Under secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in an email to Bloomberg that the new policies would “make it easier for emerging accreditors to gain recognition, increase competition, and provide institutions with greater options.”

As high-profile negotiations with elite colleges like Harvard stalled and a White House push for a “compact” giving funding preferences to Trump-friendly schools fizzled, Education Department officials like Kent have focused on accreditation as an effective way to impose the administration’s higher education agenda. The proposed changes to federal guidelines for accrediting agencies show the broad scope of that effort.

Accreditors — which are deputized by the government to oversee colleges’ educational quality, financial stability and legal compliance — certify schools’ eligibility for federal funding. That makes them a linchpin of the higher education system and potential pressure points in the administration’s campaign to reshape universities. In 2025, Trump issued an executive order to overhaul the accreditation system.

While accrediting bodies are independent, the Education Department has the power to rescind their federal recognition. The proposed regulatory changes give the federal government more leeway in revoking that certification for agencies that don’t enforce its guidelines.

Last year, the Education Department threatened to strip recognition from one of the largest accrediting bodies, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, if it didn’t crack down on Columbia University for alleged civil rights violations on campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel. At the time, the Ivy League school hadn’t yet reached a settlement with the White House to restore federal funding.

The proposed guidelines would also make it easier for new accrediting agencies certifying workforce training programs to get approved quickly. That comes as many colleges and programs are aiming to take advantage of a new pool of federal funding and financial aid for short-term vocational credentials.

A committee of policy experts will meet to hammer out the final details of the regulations later this month.