The Department of Education (ED) announced it will be publishing final regulations on distance education to promote educational innovation to better serve the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for students to have access to high-quality remote learning options. “While we moved quickly at the start of the pandemic to provide temporary distance learning flexibilities for students, these new regulations provide a permanent upgrade to online and competency-based education,” said Secretary DeVos in a press release from ED.
ED posted a notice of proposed rulemaking announcement in April. This final regulations feature a few adjustments based on public comment. As stated in the press release, the final regulations:
- Emphasize demonstrated learning over seat time.
- Remove confusion over whether a course is eligible for Title IV aid by defining “regular and substantive” interaction between students and instructors.
- Clarify and simplify the requirements for direct assessment programs, including how to determine equivalent credit hours.
- Add a definition of “juvenile justice facility” to ensure that incarcerated students remain Pell eligible.
- Allow students enrolled in Title IV, Higher Education Act (HEA)-eligible foreign institutions to complete up to 25% of their programs at an eligible institution in the United States. This provision is particularly important for students temporarily unable to attend courses abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Encourage employer participation in developing educational programs.
- Create a new, student-centric system for disbursing Title IV, HEA assistance to students in subscription-based programs.
- Require prompt action by the Department on applications to participate, or continue to participate, as an eligible institution in the HEA, Title IV program. In the past, these applications have been stalled for months or even years.
- Allow clock hour programs, which often lead to state licensed occupations, to utilize innovative learning models.
An unofficial copy of the final rule is now available online. The regulations will officially take effect July 1, 2021, but institutions have the ability to voluntarily utilize the new flexibilities as soon as the regulation is officially published in the Federal Register.
Sources:
ED: Secretary DeVos Issues New Distance Learning Regulations to Spur High-Quality Distance and Competency-Based Programs, Better Serve Diverse Population of Higher Education Students
NASFAA: ED to Publish Final Distance Education Regulations
ED: Negotiated Rulemaking for Higher Education 2018-19