The department has also proposed to review what defines “regular and substantive interaction” between faculty members and students in programs where students are not physically present in classrooms, and to review the “credit hour,” which is used to measure progress toward completing a college degree. Colleges have complained that the credit-hour rule is too prescriptive.

It is also looking to review rules governing the role that accrediting agencies should play in securing federal financial aid for institutions, and that states should play in overseeing programs operating in their jurisdictions.

Liz Hill, a spokeswoman for Ms. DeVos, said the secretary was in constant communication with Republican leaders in the House and the Senate, and “is unequivocally supportive of their efforts to reauthorize the H.E.A. this Congress.”

“While a full rewrite of the law by Congress is the preferred method for fixing H.E.A., it requires a willingness by Democrats to come to the table,” she said. “As long as Democrats continue to be unwilling to engage in productive bipartisan discussions around common-sense solutions, the department must move forward with the law that we have. Students don’t have time to wait, and they, along with schools and taxpayers, deserve certainty and relief from the regulatory overreach by the previous administration.”

While regulatory agendas often serve as wish lists, and re-regulating can take years, higher education experts say they do not underestimate Ms. DeVos.

Already, she has moved to renegotiate rules the Obama administration used to target for-profit colleges after they were tarred by scandal. In recent months, the department renegotiated “borrower defense to repayment” rules that had made it easier for defrauded students to be relieved of federal debts, as well as “gainful employment” rules that cut off loans to colleges if their graduates do not earn enough money to pay off their student debt.

Ms. DeVos also announced last month that she would delay, by two more years, a rule that requires online programs to gain approval from states where they enroll students.