# 119-s-1569: Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act

119-s-1569, Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-03).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1569
- As of: 2026-10-03
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-1569
- Congress: 119
- Title: Fairness in Higher Education Accreditation Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-05-01
- Sponsor: Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
- Cosponsors: 3
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-03

## 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. - 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 - Institutions could bring a civil action if accreditation is denied, withdrawn, terminated, or threatened because of a violation of these prohibitions.

## Cosponsors (3)

- Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA), 2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] (R-NC), 2025-07-08T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] (R-FL), 2025-07-14T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Colleges could sue over accreditation: benefit, low. 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.
- Accreditors can’t use race or sex: mixed, high. 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: mixed, high. 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,…

## Related bills

- 119-s-554: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-s-3752: SAVE America Act
- 119-s-401: Fair Access to Banking Act
- 119-s-4429: Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026
- 119-s-84: Sarah's Law
- 119-s-3302: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-1569 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1569)

## Related
- [119-s-554: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-554)
- [119-s-3752: SAVE America Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3752)
- [119-s-401: Fair Access to Banking Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-401)
- [119-s-4429: Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4429)
- [119-s-84: Sarah's Law](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-84)
- [119-s-3302: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3302)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1569 (as of 2026-10-03).