The Department of Education released a massive set of proposed rules that will impact every program at every institution of higher education through consumer disclosures or by measuring program outcomes.  The proposed regulations address such topics as Gainful Employment (GE), consumer information on the financial value of programs, career services at institutions, financial aid information, teach out plans for colleges at risk of closure, financial responsibility standards, and ability to benefit among other subjects.  

An unofficial copy of the proposed regulations was released on Wednesday and the official proposed rules will appear in the Federal Register today.  This is a significant and highly technical proposal with only a 30-day comment period.

The Department outlined its goals in a press release, saying it has established “the strongest set of safeguards ever to protect students from unaffordable debt or insufficient earnings from career training programs.”  The Department went on to say that the “proposed regulations would also bring increased transparency to the true costs and financial outcomes of nearly all undergraduate and graduate degree programs. This includes disclosures of what students and families are likely to pay out-of-pocket for a given program and a requirement that students acknowledge this information before receiving federal financial aid to attend programs that consistently leave participants with high debt burdens.”

The Department provided fact sheets on the GE and transparency parts of the rules as well as the other provisions in the regulatory package. 

The proposals are the result of two negotiated rulemaking sessions held between fall 2021 and spring 2022: the Affordability and Student Loan Committee, which concluded its work in December 2021; and the Institutional and Programmatic Eligibility Committee, which concluded its work in March 2022.

NAICU will be analyzing the package for its impact on the private, nonprofit sector and working with the broader higher education community to provide comments to the Department.  More information will be provided as soon as the analysis is complete.