To: U.S. Department of Educa�on, Members of the Program Integrity and Ins�tu�onal Quality 

Commitee, 2024 Nego�ated Rulemaking

From: Philip Mar�n and Jessie Hernandez-Reyes, The Educa�on Trust

CC: Magin Misael Sanchez, Nego�ator for Civil Rights Organiza�ons and Consumer Advocates 

(Alternate)

Date: January 26, 2024

To the U.S. Department of Educa�on and Nego�ators, 

Please see below a set of recommenda�ons developed by Ed Trust, for integra�ng an explicit focus on 

students of color in the accredita�on regula�ons under review in the nego�ated rulemaking process. 

We urge you to integrate these recommenda�ons, which are consistent with the Biden Administra�on’s 

2021 and 2023 execu�ve orders on advancing racial equity, into the accredita�on issue paper before the 

February mee�ng on program integrity and ins�tu�onal quality. 

On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed Execu�ve Order 13985, which stated, in part:

Our Nation deserves an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda that matches the scale of the 

opportunities and challenges that we face...The Federal Government should pursue a comprehensive 

approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically 

underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality... Many Federal 

datasets are not disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, income, veteran status, or other key 

demographic variables. This lack of data has cascading effects and impedes efforts to measure and 

advance equity. A first step to promoting equity in Government action is to gather the data necessary to 

inform that effort.

On February 16, 2023, President Biden signed follow-on Execu�ve Order 14091, which stated, in part:

[M]embers of underserved communities — many of whom have endured generations of discrimination 

and disinvestment — still confront significant barriers to realizing the full promise of our great Nation, 

and the Federal Government has a responsibility to remove these barriers. It is imperative to reject the 

narrow, cramped view of American opportunity as a zero-sum game. When any person or community is 

denied freedom, dignity, and prosperity, our entire Nation is held back. But when we lift each other up, 

we are all lifted up. Therefore, my Administration must take additional action across the Federal 

Government — in collaboration with civil society, the private sector, and State and local government — to 

continue the work begun with Executive Order 13985 to combat discrimination and advance equal 

opportunity, including by redressing unfair disparities and removing barriers to Government programs 

and services. Achieving racial equity and support for underserved communities is not a one-time project. 

It must be a multi-generational commitment, and it must remain the responsibility of agencies across the 

Federal Government. It therefore continues to be the policy of my Administration to advance an 

ambitious, whole-of-government approach to racial equity and support for underserved communities and 

to continuously embed equity into all aspects of Federal decision-making.

We applaud the Administra�on’s commitment and subsequent recommitment to advancing “an 

ambi�ous, whole-of-government approach to racial equity and support for underserved communi�es”

that includes “people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and 
adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality,” and we urge you to use this nego�ated 

rulemaking process to follow through on these commitments.

Recommenda�ons for advancing racial equity via accredita�on regula�ons developed by Jessie 

Hernandez-Reyes, EdTrust.

• In rela�on to § 602.16, accredita�on and pre-accredita�on standards for accredita�on agencies, 

we recommend that the Department include in the defini�on of (a)(1)(i), which requires an 

accredita�on agency to have standards for ins�tu�on or program success with respect to 

student achievement, the considera�on of – 

o publicly available data on college comple�on and reten�on rates by full-�me and part-

�me student status, including disaggregated data on these measures by student 

race/ethnicity as collected through Integrated Postsecondary Educa�on Data System 

(IPEDS) surveys to par�cipate in Title IV;

o publicly available data on the percentage of students at an ins�tu�on or in a program 

receiving financial aid assistance and median total debt and repayment rates as provided 

by the U.S. Department of Educa�on’s College Scorecard, including disaggregated data 

on financial aid assistance as provided through the newly enacted FAFSA Simplifica�on 

Act; and

o publicly available data on current student discrimina�on cases within postsecondary 

ins�tu�ons and programs due to student race and na�on origin under the Office of Civil 

Rights, and past cases of discrimina�on by race and na�onal origin as outlined by the 

Office of Civil Rights’ pending cases search tool and recent resolu�on search tool, 

respec�vely. 

• In terms of the Department’s inten�on to create a risk-based review process for reviewing and 

approving accredita�on agencies, we recommend that the Department consider the following 

factors to assess “risk” – 

o High annual net price, overall or for low-income students;

o Low annual comple�on rates overall, including as disaggregated by Pell Grant recipient 

status, race/ethnicity, and incarcera�on status for ins�tu�ons that offer prison in 

educa�on programs;

o Low annual reten�on rates or high annual dropout rates overall, including as 

disaggregated by Pell Grant recipient status, race/ethnicity, and incarcera�on status for 

ins�tu�ons that offer prison in educa�on programs;

o Volume of pending Office of Civil Rights inves�ga�ons of discrimina�on by race and 

na�onal origin; and

o Volume of reported campus hate crimes by race, ethnicity, and na�onal origin per 

annual Clery Act data. 

• In rela�on to § 602.23(c), accredita�on agency complaints, we recommend that the Department 

update its regula�ons to require that accredita�on agencies – 

o May not refuse to accept a complaint against an accredited or pre-accredited ins�tu�on 

or program if the complaint does not iden�fy the complainant or specify a par�cular 

accredita�on standard that was infringed upon;
 Explana�on: students who submit a complaint to an accredita�on agency based 

on discrimina�on by race/ethnicity by their ins�tu�on/program may not feel 

comfortable providing their iden�ty given fear of retalia�on and may be 

unfamiliar with the accredita�on standard that corresponds to their complaint.

o Provide clear �melines for the complaint review process, including �mely no�fica�on to 

the complainant regarding the status of the complaint submited; and

o Provide confiden�ality to complainants, providing complainants the ability to elect to 

keep their personally iden�fiable informa�on confiden�al from the ins�tu�on or 

program that is the subject of the complaint.

Public Comment to the U.S. Department of Educa�on Program Integrity and Ins�tu�onal Quality 

Commitee on Improving Student Success for Students of Color by Jessie Hernandez-Reyes, EdTrust, 

January 11, 2024.

Good a�ernoon, 

My name is Jessie Hernandez-Reyes. I’m a senior policy analyst for higher educa�on at The Educa�on 

Trust. We work to dismantle racial and economic barriers in the U.S. educa�on system, from preschool 

through college.

I’m also a first-genera�on college graduate and proud Mexican American. 

I’m here to urge the Department to center the experiences and outcomes of students of color and 

students from low-income backgrounds throughout the rulemaking process. 

This week, a diverse group of former students has shared how accredited colleges scammed them into 

spending down their federal student aid and GI Bill benefits while leaving them with no creden�al, or a 

worthless one. 

The public deserves regula�ons that hold ins�tu�ons and accreditors accountable and prevent them 

from harming students in the first place.

In addi�on, while students of color are nearly half of all undergraduates, accredited colleges o�en have 

persistently low college comple�on rates for these students. At college results dot org, we use federal 

data to shine a spotlight on these dispari�es, which are a sign of a broken system.

This lack of ins�tu�onal effec�veness and accountability is a huge problem for the U.S. workforce. Fewer 

than 1/3 of Black adults and only 1/5 of La�no adults hold an associate degree or higher. 

Federally-recognized accreditors and colleges are responsible for student achievement and support, and 

they’re falling short. One reason is nega�ve campus climate.

I spent a year talking to students of color at colleges around the country. Students recounted hos�le 

treatment by peers and college staff, expressed uncertainty about where and how to report incidents of 

discrimina�on, and shared feelings of isola�on, stress, and exclusion due to these experiences. These 

stories confirm research on the importance of belonging for student success. 

The Department should require accreditors to consider – for both ins�tu�onal reviews against standards 

and ongoing risk assessment – reten�on and comple�on rates disaggregated by race/ethnicity and Pell 
Grant status; debt and repayment rates; processes and outcomes of campus climate reviews; and Office 

of Civil Rights discrimina�on data.

Accreditors should also review reten�on and comple�on rates for incarcerated students atending higher 

educa�on in prison programs and ensure incarcerated students are not duped into training for jobs they 

will not be eligible to take.

Lastly, The Department should ensure student complaints to accredita�on agencies are not refused for 

being incorrectly or anonymously filed. Accreditors should err on the side of hearing students’ concerns 

and should adhere to swi� �melines for addressing complaints.

Thank you.