This brief examines the June 2026 U.S. Department of Education agreements with DOJ and HHS, focusing on what the shift means for college and university leaders. It covers ED’s retained authority, DOJ’s new role in civil-rights and FERPA workflows, HHS’s role around OSERS, and the institutional risk areas most likely to face closer documentation and enforcement scrutiny.
This article covers:
How much of federal oversight actually moved?
Where does institutional risk move when DOJ shapes the investigative record?
What should leaders watch before the new enforcement map becomes campus risk?
1. How much of federal oversight actually moved?
The June 2026 interagency agreements, or IAAs, move operational work around higher education civil rights, FERPA student privacy, and disability-related programs without removing ED’s statutory authority. ED announced four new agreements, bringing the total to 14. The implication for colleges is a split oversight model: ED remains the legal decision-maker, while DOJ and HHS now shape more of the process.
On June 16, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and partner agency heads announced four new interagency agreements with the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. The agreements sit under the same broader restructuring effort that has already moved education-related grant administration into other agencies, including an earlier postsecondary agreement transferring the Child Care Access Means Parents in School grant program to HHS.
The immediate higher ed relevance is in
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