Watercolor World Map

International Membership

Connect to the world of higher education

With AACRAO membership you'll be connected to more than 11,000 members from institutions around the world. Facilitate your professional development by attending discounted meetings, gaining complimentary subscriptions to our College & University journal and more.

Why should you join? From professional development opportunities to forging connections that will help you in setting down career stones, there's more than one reason. 

Apply for International Membership

Is your institution already a member? Apply to join the roster.
Want to join independently? Apply without an institution.

 

Annual Membership Price: Starting at $302

Requirements: YOU MUST BE AT A POSTSECONDARY DEGREE-GRANTING INSTITUTION OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES RECOGNIZED BY THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OR APPROPRIATE MINISTRY IN YOUR COUNTRY AND AUTHORIZED TO GRANT DEGREES.

Develop Professionally

International Membership - Professional Development


AACRAO Edge

When education standards change, new credentials are awarded, or foreign education systems are reorganized, AACRAO EDGE utilizes the expertise of the International Education Standards Council (IESC) to review and update our database.

Professional Competencies

Work on your skills like diversity and inclusion, interpretation and application of institutional and external data, and leadership. We have the tools for you.

Online Learning

From free webinars to self-paced on-demand learning, AACRAO's online learning covers a variety of subjects—technology, strategic enrollment management, admissions, FERPA, transfer, credential evaluation, and international education—and allow you to engage with the presenters and instructors.

Take the next step in your career

AACRAO's Career Navigator is a wealth of job postings and resources for training. 

Gain Recognition

Intl Students - Recognition


Get Published

AACRAO's professional journals College & University and SEM Quarterly are always accepting articles and have a wide circulation base.

Research Opportunities

Leverage the expertise of our over 11,000 members and contribute to one of the premier sources of practice related research within the global higher education community. 

Join a committee

Do work you're passionate about, with support and mentoring from fellow members. From Caucuses to specialized topics, it's all one community, no matter where in the world your institution is located. 


AACRAO_Connect_logo_final_transparentbkg

AACRAO's bi-weekly professional development e-newsletter

Reflections from Negotiated Rulemaking

Jan 22, 2019, 11:08 AM
legacy id :
Summary :
Url :

by Tina Falkner, AACRAO President

After a day and a half delay due to 10” of snow in the DC metro area, the Negotiated Rulemaking committee convened at noon on Tuesday, January 15, and met from 9-5 on Wednesday, January 16.

Negotiated rulemaking is the process that the Department of Education can engage in “to prepare proposed regulations for the Federal Student Aid programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA)." In July ED published in the Federal Register their intention of forming a negotiated rulemaking (neg reg) committee and then held three public hearings to collect comments on the topics proposed for coverage in this round of Neg Reg.

AACRAO at the table

The negotiations are between ‘interested parties’ or constituency groups (for this particular round: financial aid administrators; legal assistance organizations that represent students; title III eligible institutions; four-year public institutions; private, nonprofit institutions; private, proprietary institutions; institutions that offer primarily distance education; two-year public institutions; regional accrediting agencies; programmatic accrediting agencies; national accrediting agencies; faith-based institutions; students; employers; and veterans) and ED. In both the public comment period and at the start of the meeting there was considerable concern raised that there wasn’t enough representation of the student consumer protection perspective, as well as the fact that there was no seat at the negotiating table for the voice of the states.

Changes to the process
In a departure from past neg reg sessions, ED proposed redlined versions of the sections of the HEA that are being addressed in this round of negotiating. ED is also attempting to group the seemingly disparate topics into ‘packages’ to potentially facilitate consensus with the negotiators. Additionally, there are three subcommittees that aren’t necessarily comprised of members of the larger negotiating committee that will meet separately to discuss the groupings of proposed changes and bring recommendations to the full, voting committee at our February rulemaking meeting. ED noted that the changes this round are an attempt to expidite the process of getting to consensus. All of these changes to the standard process seemed to really upset people who had participated in the rulemaking process in the past.

Issues addressed

The first order of business for the committee was to hear petitions for additions to the negotiating committee. I thought this would be fairly routine and simple; I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was considerable debate about adding a seat for the states Attorneys General. In the end, ED would not concede to allow them either voting or alternate membership. State Higher Education Executive Office (SHEEO) representation was approved after much less debate.

The committee also debated the protocol that governs the negotiation proceedings. Again, I thought this would be simple and straightforward. And, again, I was wrong. The committee was concerned about another change to the former process that outlines that alternate negotiators are not allowed to speak unless the main negotiator is absent for a significant portion of the day. In the past, I now understand, that both constituency group negotiators were allowed to talk during the negotiations. The committee modified the proposed language to allow the alternate to speak somewhat more freely when the topic being discussed is more relevant to their experience.

After much of the ‘housekeeping’ items were agreed upon, the committee began discussing the proposed draft regulatory language regarding accreditation. Much of the discussion focused on why ED proposed the changes in the accreditation section of HEA, specifically asking about “what problems were the proposed regulatory changes designed to fix?” ED could not cite specific instances for nearly all of the changes we discussed. The general sense of the room was that the proposed language would weaken the gate-keeping power of accreditation agencies and therefore introduce more risk for fraud, waste and abuse within Title IV financial aid administration.

One very perplexing aspect of the negotiations were that ED proposed new definitions of specific terms that are used in the accreditation portion of HEA but the committee wasn’t allowed to start the negotiations by discussing the definitions, but rather were instructed that deliberations would start at the beginning of the section and progress sequentially. I got the sense, and I thought it too, that if you don’t know the underlying meaning of a particular word or phrase it is nonsensical to agree to a sentence that uses it. The days of negotiating ended with the committee making it through preliminary discussion on twelve pages of proposed text - I do wonder how we will ever make it through all of the proposed regulations.

Share your thoughts

I’ve been asked by several colleagues on campus how the experience was and I have responded, “Interesting in both the Minnesota Nice way and in the true sense of the word” (and for those of you who aren’t familiar with Minnesota Nice it is like when something tastes yucky and you say it is ‘interesting’). I will continue to reflect on my experiences and please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions, concerns or issues that you would like me to relay about the proposed regulatory language.








 
Categories :
  • AACRAO Leadership and Governance
  • AACRAO News
  • Accreditation
  • Advocacy
  • Advocacy Center
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
Tags :
two people negotiate while a third signs a document
Related people

Build Connections

International Membership - Build Connections


Attend a event

Our meetings, workshops, and international institutes are designed instruct, educate and foster collaboration between professionals and institutions. Find one that works for you.

Learn More

Become an Advocate

Give community college a bigger voice in politics. Advocate for higher education policies that you're passionate about on Capitol Hill. Meet your Congressional reps and state peers while exercising your political voice.

Learn More

Member Only Benefits

AACCRAO_Transcript-purple

AACRAO's weekly e-newsletter delivering policy and industry news

Member Login Required

Questions? Contact us at membership@aacrao.org or (202) 355-1040