Changing Higher Ed 2026 Title IV Changes and How Higher Education Can Adapt to the OBBBA
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 reform must be part of any serious affordability discussion. He also outlines Alliant's Project Evolve, a multi-part strategy designed to address funding access, innovation, differentiation, growth, and long-term sustainability.
This episode is especially relevant for presidents, boards, cabinet leaders, enrollment leaders, and anyone responsible for strategic planning in a period when higher education can no longer afford to move slowly while the environment changes around it.
Some of the Topics Covered:- How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is reshaping higher education beyond a typical policy cycle
- Why graduate and professional programs face the greatest immediate pressure
- What tighter loan limits mean for student access and private lending
- Why accreditation reform matters to cost, innovation, and program design
- How student expectations and employer demand are shifting at the same time as federal policy
- Why higher education's resistance to change has become a strategic liability
- How Project Evolve is positioning Alliant to respond to permanent structural change
- Alliant's modeling of how many graduate students may not qualify for private loan replacement options
- The institution's effort to expand private loan access while exploring additional funding approaches
- The need for institutions, accreditors, and the Department to work together if graduate education costs are going to come down
- New campus investments, including Alliant's Sacramento campus and Phoenix nursing campus
- The long-term wind-down of three small branch campuses that no longer fit the future model
- Alliant's decision to enter this period of uncertainty with zero debt and greater room to invest strategically
- These changes are permanent. If institutions think a last-minute Hail Mary is coming, it is not. The structural federal changes Congress enacted and the Department responded to are here to stay. Do not underestimate your planning process.
- It is late, but it is not too late. Institutions that have not started changing to prepare for federal shifts, changing demand, and what the next generation of students wants can still begin now and make meaningful change.
- Plans matter, but execution matters more. Higher education has a habit of creating attractive strategic plans that sit on a shelf. Goals need to be measurable, and one person needs to own each goal so there is clear accountability and regular follow-up.
This episode provides a practical look at how one university leader is preparing for permanent federal change while also addressing the deeper market and operational pressures reshaping higher education. For institutions that need to move from policy awareness to institutional action, this is a useful framework for what that work can look like.
Read the article: https://changinghighered.com/2026-title-iv-changes-how-higher-education-can-adapt-obbba/
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