Introduction by Barbara K. Mistick

Dear Colleagues,

While the House and Senate have been out of session this week in observance of the Memorial Day holiday, our attention remains focused on actions from the administration.

As we reported last week, the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) committee reached consensus on regulatory amendments that will bring substantial changes to the Title IV accreditation process. The negotiated rulemaking represents the culmination of President Trump’s campaign promise to use accreditation as a “secret weapon” to drive higher education reform. (See story for more details.)

The Department intends to publish the final accreditation regulations by November 1, 2026, to implement the new rules on July 1, 2027. To discuss the AIM committee’s consensus recommendations, NAICU will host a webinar (register) on June 2 from 2:00–3:00 p.m. EDT. NAICU’s Jody Feder, director of accountability and regulatory affairs, will be joined by David Eubanks, assistant vice president of the Office of Institutional Assessment and Research at Furman University and the AIM committee’s negotiator for the private, nonprofit sector. Together they will discuss what these proposed accreditation changes could mean for your campus.

As May turns to June, we creep closer to the July 1 implementation date for the higher education provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3). To help you and your campus prepare for what is the most significant shift in federal student aid in a generation, NAICU is hosting a dedicated webinar (register) on this topic as well. The webinar will be held on June 4, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT.

Among the sweeping changes that will arrive on July 1: the elimination of Grad PLUS loans; new annual and lifetime borrowing caps for graduate, professional, and parent borrowers; the replacement of the old income-driven repayment options with the new Repayment Assistance Plan; an earnings-accountability standard applied to every program in every sector; and the launch of Workforce Pell for short-term programming.

Our webinar will give campus leaders, financial aid administrators, and business officers a clear, practical picture of what changes on July 1, who’s affected, and what to do to prepare.

Please try to join us for these two important webinars next week.

I hope you have a pleasant weekend.

Regards,

Barbara

Barbara K. Mistick, D.B.A.
President, NAICU