NAICU Washington Update

Department of Education Urges Institutions to Meet July 31 Gainful Employment Deadline

July 22, 2015

Representatives from the Department of Education reminded colleges with gainful employment (GE) programs of the importance of meeting the upcoming July 31, 2015 reporting deadline. The reminder came earlier this month during the annual NASFAA National Conference.

According to the Department, if an institution fails to meet the reporting deadline, or reports inaccurate data, the institution’s participation in the Title IV federal student aid programs may be jeopardized.

The July 31 deadline includes the required GE data for the 2008-2009 award year through the 2013-2014 award year, and for certain medical and dental programs from the 2007-2008 award year through the 2013-2014 award year. (The GE reporting deadline for the current 2014-2015 award year is October 1, 2015.)

The GE information provided by an institution is used to determine if the students at an institution meet the “debt to earnings” ratio threshold that allows the institution to continue participation in the federal student aid programs. In short, do the institution’s students make enough money to repay their loans?

The Department representatives said letters would be sent August 1, 2015, to presidents of colleges from which the required data had not been received by the deadline. If the data are not received 10 days after that, colleges could be subject to further review. While gainful employment programs are largely at for-profit schools and community colleges, a number of nonprofit colleges have GE certificate programs.

Detailed information about the regulations pertaining to GE programs can be found at the Department’s IFAP site.

NAICU has provided updates on the circuitous history of the finalization of GE rules over the past several years:

Gainful Employment Rule Withstands Court Challenge (Washington Update, May 29, 2015)

Another Try at Gainful Employment Regulations (Washington Update, December 17, 2014)

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