PRIA Logo™
119-s-1569119th CongressWALLET

Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act

Sponsored By: Senator Banks, Jim [R-IN]

Introduced

Summary

Stops accrediting agencies from using race, sex, or national origin when judging colleges. This bill would bar accreditors from imposing or considering those characteristics for students, faculty, staff, leaders, or honorees and would require accreditors to allow institutions to adopt any lawful policy on these matters.

Show full summary
  • Colleges and their subunits would be allowed to set lawful policies on demographics without facing accreditation penalties.
  • Accrediting agencies would be banned from setting standards, investigating, or making recommendations about the race, color, sex, or national origin composition of a school's people.
  • Public colleges would be held to the First Amendment and their written academic freedom rules. Private colleges would be bound to their own written rules on free speech, association, press, religion, assembly, petition, and academic freedom.
  • Certain religiously controlled schools would be exempt from the bill's free inquiry rule if they meet the listed doctrinal or governance criteria.
  • Institutions could bring a civil action if accreditation is denied, withdrawn, terminated, or threatened because of a violation of these prohibitions.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.

Accreditors can’t use race or sex

If enacted, accreditors could not use race, color, sex, or national origin when judging colleges. They also could not set standards, investigate, or make recommendations about those traits. The bill makes an existing interpretive paragraph explicitly subject to that ban.

Free inquiry rule for accreditors

If enacted, the bill would make 'free inquiry' a condition for federal accreditor recognition. For public schools, that means following the First Amendment and written academic freedom policies. For private schools, it means following the school's written policies on speech, association, religion, assembly, petition, and academic freedom. Accreditors would have to allow each school to adopt any lawful policy about race, color, sex, or national origin. The bill would exempt certain religious colleges that meet listed control or doctrinal tests.

Colleges could sue over accreditation

If enacted, a college could sue if it loses or faces loss of accreditation because an accreditor violated the ban on using race, color, sex, or national origin. The legal claim would proceed under the current section 496(e) and (f) procedures.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Banks, Jim [R-IN]

IN • R

Cosponsors

  • Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA]

    PA • R

    Sponsored 9/29/2026

  • Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC]

    NC • R

    Sponsored 7/8/2025

  • Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL]

    FL • R

    Sponsored 7/14/2025

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation