Soundbites

DOD Targeting Private, Nonprofit Colleges. Following the Department of Defense (DOD) notice that it would cease its academic relationship with Harvard University effective this fall, news outlets have reported that the DOD is proposing to end tuition assistance for active-duty servicemembers in graduate programs at more than 30 private, nonprofit universities. NAICU is working with affected institutions to determine the best course of advocacy to support private institutions and the servicemember students they serve.

Interpretive Rule on Regional Accreditation Published. The Department of Education issued an interpretive rule advising accrediting agencies that describing themselves as “regional” accreditors is misleading and that “the terms ‘national,’ ‘institutional,’ or ‘programmatic’ are the only appropriate terms an accrediting agency should use to describe their scope of recognition under the authorizing statute.” The Department eliminated regional accreditation in regulations issued in 2020.

Default Management and Prevention Guidance Released. The Department of Education released guidance on institutions’ obligation to create default management and prevention plans if their cohort default rate is at or above 30%. The announcement included best practices for institutions to consider and notice of a training webinar on this topic. In addition, the announcement included updated institution-level non-repayment data, which is the percentage of borrowers who entered repayment between January 2020 and May 2025 and are more than 90 days delinquent (including default) at the time the data was run.