The U.S. Department of Education moved ahead on a new regulatory agenda aimed at reshaping accreditation oversight and tightening civil-rights enforcement in federal student-aid programs. The plan includes a proposed rule this month that would make it easier for new accrediting bodies to form and for institutions to switch accreditors, while expanding accreditor responsibilities to cover campus free-speech and intellectual-diversity policies. The department also signaled it will amend rules to streamline how it can cut off federal financial aid to colleges found to have violated civil-rights requirements and refused to come into voluntary compliance. Separate CHEA policy brief updates indicate these actions are occurring alongside an earnings-based accountability framework for Title IV that rolls into the “Do No Harm” standard. For institutions, the combination of more accreditation flexibility and expanded oversight duties increases compliance workload while leaving fewer regulatory “quiet periods” ahead. Schools may also need to prepare for new reporting expectations tied to earnings outcomes and related program reviews.