The U.S. Department of Education signaled an additional round of regulatory actions that could reshape higher education operations, including accreditation and civil-rights enforcement processes. In its regulatory agenda, the department is set to propose rules that would make it easier for new accrediting bodies to form and for institutions to change accreditors, while expanding accreditors’ responsibilities to cover oversight of campus free-speech and intellectual-diversity-related policies. The department also expects rulemaking aimed at streamlining how federal aid can be cut off when schools are found to have violated civil-rights laws and declined to comply voluntarily, and it plans steps to make it easier for institutions to merge or close. For institutional leaders and boards, the near-term priority is preparing for potential increases in oversight leverage by both federal regulators and accrediting agencies, as well as new compliance documentation timelines tied to civil-rights findings.