Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Dick Durbin are renewing a push to make colleges answer for student debt that graduates cannot realistically repay. Their proposed legislation would tie greater scrutiny of schools to outcomes including loan repayment and the gap between debt and earnings after graduation.
The effort arrives after the Biden administration found that 1.7 million student-loan borrowers were defrauded by accredited schools between 2021 and 2024. Lawmakers say that finding strengthens the case for tougher oversight of the accreditation system that allows institutions to participate in federal student aid programs.
What the bill would change
The Accreditation Reform and Enhanced Accountability Act would direct the Department of Education to establish guidelines for evaluating colleges. A fact sheet reviewed by Business Insider says those guidelines would include student-loan repayment results and how postgraduation debt compares with borrowers’ earnings.
| Proposed measure | Focus |
|---|---|
| Education Department evaluation guidelines | Student-loan repayment outcomes and debt compared with earnings after graduation |
| Faster accreditor responses | State and federal investigations involving school fraud or misconduct |
| More public disclosure | Transparency around accreditation decisions |
The legislation would also require accreditors to respond quickly when state or federal authorities investigate a school for fraud or misconduct. It would seek greater transparency around the decisions accreditors make about institutions.
“We need to overhaul our accreditation system to make sure students get an education that will improve their lives, not leave them jobless and buried in debt,” Warren said in a statement. Accreditation can determine whether a school remains eligible to receive federal aid for its students.
A separate debate over accreditation
The Education Department has separately advanced a proposal to alter the accreditation system, including a requirement that accreditors ensure schools protect free speech on campus. Some negotiators criticized that provision, arguing that First Amendment matters do not fall within an accreditor’s role.
Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent said the department’s measures support goals of “lowering costs, simplifying repayment, connecting education to workforce needs, strengthening accountability, and restoring confidence in our accreditation system.” The competing proposals place accreditation at the center of a broader debate about what colleges must deliver in exchange for access to federal aid.
Calls for stronger oversight have also followed staffing cuts at the Department of Education. An Office of the Inspector General report found that offices collecting financial-aid data on schools in federal student aid programs were among those hit hardest by the cuts.