2026 Title IV Changes and How Higher Education Can Adapt to the OBBBA

About this episode

Dr. Drumm McNaughton discusses the implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Title IV changes with Dr. Andy Vaughn, focusing on how higher education institutions can adapt.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is changing higher education in ways many institutions still have not fully accounted for. Title IV loan limits change on July 1, 2026. Accreditation reform is next. Together, those developments are forcing institutions to confront graduate funding pressure, cost structure, program design, student demand, and the pace of institutional change. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Andy Vaughn, President and CEO of Alliant International University and one of three higher education representatives on the 2025 Negotiated Rulemaking RISE Committee, about how OB3 is changing higher education and what institutions need to do now to keep up. In part 2, the focus shifts from federal policy itself to the larger institutional consequences of those changes and the kind of leadership response they now require. Drawing on his experience in higher education operations, institutional leadership, marketing, and negotiated rulemaking, Vaughn explains why graduate education faces the greatest immediate disruption under the new law, why private lending will not solve every student access problem, and why accreditation…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Drumm McNaughton

Guest: Dr. Andy Vaughn

Topics covered

• Title IV changes
• higher education adaptation
• accreditation reform
• graduate funding
• institutional leadership
• affordability in education

Keywords

• higher education
• Title IV
• One Big Beautiful Bill Act
• accreditation reform
• graduate education
• institutional change
• affordability
• funding access

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Alliant International University

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