Federal Update on the White House Executive Order
Executive Order on Accreditation
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order regarding higher education accreditation directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to investigate and hold accountable accreditors of institutions that engage in discriminatory practices through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and to streamline the accreditation process to ensure that accredited institutions offer high-quality education.
The Executive Order is part of the Administration’s efforts to overhaul the accreditation process, including by increasing competition among accreditors. Key provisions in the Executive Order, taken from the White House-generated Fact Sheet directs Secretary McMahon to hold higher education accreditors accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, for accreditors’ poor performance or for violations of federal civil rights law.
It directs the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education to investigate and take action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions.
The Order mandates the Secretary of Education realign accreditation with student-focused principles by:
- Resuming recognition of new accreditors to foster competition.
- Requiring institutions use program-level student outcome data to improve results, without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex.
- Requiring high-quality, high-value academic programs.
- Prioritizing intellectual diversity among faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning.
- Launching an experimental site to test innovative quality assurance pathways.
- Increasing the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of the accreditor recognition review process.
- Streamlining accreditor recognition and institutional transitions between accreditors.
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) President Cynthia Jackson Hammond, Ed.D., issued a statement in response to this Executive Order, which says in part, “Recognized accrediting organizations have the common goal of ensuring institutional integrity and accountability. The commonality of interest is the foundational principal that leads to student success.”
There are several statements from government officials concerning the Executive Order.
Secretary McMahon’s statement on the Executive Order on accreditation states in part, “President Trump’s Executive Order will bring long-overdue change by accelerating the recognition of new accreditors and refocusing existing accreditors on helping member institutions improve the student outcomes families pcare most about.”
Chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives, Tim Walberg (R-MI) said in a statement related to accreditation in the Executive Order: “Accreditors are supposed to help develop standards, inform prospective students about the quality of a school, and inform Congress about which schools should participate in federal student aid programs.”
Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives said in a statement on the Executive Order on accreditation: “Under the guise of eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the Trump Administration issued a slew of education-related executive orders that ignores this nation’s history and continued reality of resisting equal educational opportunities to all of America’s students.”
The leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee have not provided public comments concerning this Executive Order.
Representative Burgess Owens (R-UT) Leads Efforts to Codify Trump Executive Order
One of Representative Owens’ bills, H.R. 2516, would codify the overhaul of the federal accreditation system by restricting DEI standards and protecting religious mission for institutions. A similar bill passed the House last year, but was never considered by Senate.
It is likely that Members of Congress are preparing additional legislation to codify the proposals in the Executive Order into law. While these bills may be passed in the House of Representatives, the prospect of passage in the Senate is unlikely.
New Negotiated Rulemaking
The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) is holding public hearings preparatory to negotiated rulemaking on April 29, 2025, and Thursday, May 1, 2025, regarding the following proposed topics:
- Refining definitions of a qualifying employer for the purpose of determining eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
- Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) repayment plans.
- Potential topics that would streamline current federal student financial assistance program regulations while maintaining or improving program integrity and institutional quality.
It is likely that accreditation will be part of the public comment provided during the hearing. These hearings will inform USDE about potential topics to include on its agenda for the upcoming negotiated rulemaking.