NAICU - The Confusing Clarifications Continue

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The Confusing Clarifications Continue

NAICU Washington Update

July 12, 2011

Yet another "clarification" from the Department of Education on July 8, has caused new head-scratching about the already complex and confusing gainful employment regulations. The final regulations themselves were issued in three parts, with the most recent being the metrics or "penalty" rules, coming months after the earlier parts.

In the meantime, the Department has issued 12 electronic announcements, and held several webinars to help schools meet the July 1 disclosure and new-program requirements, as well as the looming October 1 reporting requirements. Soon to come will be a third version of the Department's highly technical reporting guideline.

The Department has set up a question and answer function on its gainful employment website. Unfortunately, it seems that every question that's answered, and every clarification that's issued (such as the May 20 teacher education clarification of the earlier April 20), lead to more unanswered questions.

Announcement No. 12 tries to parse what must be reported when a certificate is awarded as part of a degree program. The permutations are mind-boggling. But stay tuned: the Department now plans to publish an announcement on what schools must do if they withdraw their certificate programs from Title IV eligibility.

Contact

Maureen Budetti
maureen@naicu.edu