Accreditation Choice and Innovation Act

This bill amends the Higher Education Act to reform how accrediting agencies evaluate institutions of higher education. It establishes new criteria for accrediting agencies to demonstrate independence from trade associations, allows states to designate industry-specific quality assurance entities as accrediting agencies, and creates protections for religious institutions to maintain accreditation based on their religious mission. The bill requires accrediting agencies to use risk-based review processes that adjust oversight based on institutional performance, publicly share accreditation data, and provides religious institutions with a new process to challenge accreditation decisions they believe fail to respect their religious mission. These changes directly affect accrediting agencies, higher education institutions, and students by altering the accreditation evaluation process.