A former
Department of Education
official is concerned that a new regulatory agenda released by the
Biden administration
could have adverse effects on religious colleges and universities that participate in the federal
student loan
program.
The Biden administration announced last week it intends to revisit Department of Education regulations on a host of issues in 2023, including accreditation, student loan deferments, distance education, and other issues,
according to
Inside Higher Ed.
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Bob Eitel, the co-founder and president of the Defense of Freedom Institute and a former senior counselor to the secretary of Education, said the decision to revisit the accreditation rule is notable because the rule implemented in July 2020 by the Trump administration was the product of a lengthy rule-making process that achieved consensus from stakeholders.
“That the Biden Education Department would take it upon themselves to undo that consensus doesn’t make any sense,” Eitel told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “[And] given some of the anti-faith postures taken by the department in the Biden administration on issues of religion and faith and culture, anybody who attends a faith-based institution should be very concerned about what the department might do.”
The former education official explained that the regulations implemented in 2020 by the Trump administration and then-Secretary
Betsy DeVos
contained a number of “important changes” that were aimed at protecting religious colleges and universities from accrediting agencies that sought to force such schools to adopt curriculum requirements that violated their religious beliefs.
Eitel expects the Biden administration to roll back those protections “because these issues bleed into their priorities regarding gender identity and the rights of transgender students and individuals.”
Without those protections, religious colleges and universities that object to certain requirements from their accrediting agency on religious grounds could be disqualified from Title IV funding, the federal financial aid program, which requires participating institutions to be accredited in order for their students to receive federal student loans.
“The issue here historically has been that accreditation agencies — whether they are agencies that accredit institutions or whether they’re agencies that accredit certain programs — often will require faith-based schools to adhere to accreditation requirements that are based in diversity, equity and inclusion or affirmative action, or directly implicate issues of LGBTQ rights in a way that contradicts the faith or the teachings of that faith-based institution,” Eitel said.
Potentially problematic requirements pushed by accrediting agencies had previously ranged from curriculum standards to student and residential life policies, Eitel said. The DeVos-era regulation prohibited such requirements, thus protecting religious schools from accrediting agencies that would have otherwise refused to accredit them and thus disqualifying the institution from Title IV funding.
A disqualification from Title IV could be disastrous, Eitel explained, describing the federal student loan program as the “lifeblood” of institutions.
“The current rule reads that a creditor must respect the institutional religious mission of a faith-based institution,” he said. “My concern is that the Biden Education Department will work to undo that protection for schools controlled by religious organizations.”
But while he’s concerned about the content of the administration’s regulatory agenda, Eitel said he has doubts as to whether or not the department will have time to implement it before the presidential term ends.
The administration expects to make a notice of official rule-making in April, according to the official government regulatory website. Eitel said he doesn’t expect a proposed rule to enter public comment for some time, possibly not until 2024.
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“I don’t look for any of these higher ed rules that they just announced in this recent publication of the regulatory agenda to be effective before July 1, 2025,” he said. “It is an ambitious agenda, and I have questions whether they’ll be able to do [it] at all.”
The Washington Examiner has contacted the Department of Education for comment.
