Accreditation Choice and Innovation Act

Key Points

• Congress is considering a plan to change how colleges and trade schools are approved for federal funding. Instead of just looking at general quality, the new rules would focus on "student success," measuring things like how much graduates earn compared to what they paid for their degree and how many students actually finish.
• The bill would allow states to pick their own groups to approve schools, including organizations that focus on specific industries. This is intended to create more options for schools and encourage new types of training programs, like skills development, to qualify for federal student aid.
• New protections would be added for religious schools. Accrediting groups would be banned from punishing a school for its religious beliefs or practices. If a school feels it is being treated unfairly because of its mission, it could file a complaint with the government to have the decision reversed.
• Schools that consistently show good results for their students would face fewer inspections and less paperwork. However, schools labeled as "high-risk" because of poor student outcomes would have to submit annual plans to fix their performance or risk losing their ability to accept federal student loans.
• To prevent conflicts of interest, the groups that approve colleges must be financially and administratively separate from trade associations. The bill also prevents these groups from judging the actions or statements of elected government officials when deciding whether a school meets standards.