The Department of Education (DOE) has finalized a new set of regulations that have many private colleges and universities concerned and religious institutions downright alarmed.

Formulated in response to allegations of financial-aid fraud at some for-profit institutions, these 80-odd pages of rules contain 14 different directives, one of which could provide a back-door threat to the ability of Christian colleges to control curriculum, admissions, and hiring standards. (Another rule, requiring for-profit universities to demonstrate a minimal rate of post-graduate employment, has been delayed after it drew protests.)

The directive, mandated for implementation by July 1, 2011, asks states to develop a procedure (if they don’t already have one) to license private educational institutions. The procedure must be a “substantive” one, and if schools do not comply the states are required to take “adverse action” against the institutions. (Under current law, as long as a school is approved by a federally recognized accreditor and is allowed to operate in a particular state, that school will be eligible to receive Title IV financial aid for its students.)…

Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee expressed concern that “increase[d] state government supervision” would reduce the “independence and autonomy” that undergird the strength of the U.S. education system. “Private colleges and universities are currently supervised by their accrediting agencies, and the Secretary of Education approves those agencies,” he said. “If that system needs improvement, we should have that conversation—not hand over the management of private colleges and universities to bureaucrats in Nashville or Sacramento or Boston.”

Read More: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/novemberweb-only/53.11.0.html