The U.S. Department of Education released draft accreditation proposals under negotiated rulemaking, reshaping responsibilities for accreditors and institutions and raising new questions for compliance operations. Among the changes, the proposals include presuming transferability of credits toward general-education requirements (not only electives), requiring accrediting organizations to establish minimum standards for student achievement with metrics tied to return on investment, and expanding monitoring of civil-rights compliance such as Title IX. CHEA’s April Policy Watch notes the effort follows a Trump executive order focused on student achievement that would ease pathways for new accreditors, remove DEI-related requirements from accreditation, and allow institutions to move to new accreditors with notice to the federal government. For campuses, the near-term work is mapping institutional assessment systems and student-outcomes reporting to evolving accreditation expectations, while also tracking how civil-rights compliance monitoring may expand the scope of accreditor review.