Early last week, Secretary Devos announced that colleges and universities will not be required to publicly disclose data about their vocational programs’ graduate employment rates or debt levels. The rule known as Gainful Employment was created during President Obama’s administration to help students assess whether a program would lead them towards a job.
The announcement made by ED, this past week, indicates that they plan on rewriting the regulation. Devos wrote that the current rules if “fully implemented, the current rules would unfairly and arbitrarily limit students’ ability to pursue certain types of higher education and career training programs”. While it is uncertain what changes the federal government is planning to make, this delay will certainly cause unnecessary burden on students and financial aid administrators. This the second time the Department of Education has delayed this regulation. These regulations were updated in 2016 and with the last postponement was intended to go into effect July 2019.
Regardless of what is in store for the Gainful Employment regulations, higher ed administrators still required to post existing disclosures under current legislation.
References
Fain, Paul. “Education Department Delays Disclosures under Gainful Employment While Working to Replace Rule.” Esports Quickly Expanding in Colleges, Inside Higher Ed, 18 June 2018, www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/18/education-department-delays-disclosures-under-gainful-employment-while-working.
Fredman, J. (2018). [online] www.nasfaa.org. Available at: https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/15445/DeVos_Delays_Disclosure_Requirements_of_GE_Rule_Again [Accessed 19 Jun. 2018].