Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
Opinion and Order Granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiffs, two associations representing not-for-profit, public and for-profit cosmetology schools, challenged the Department of Education’s 2023 final gainful-employment rule, arguing that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court rejected plaintiffs’ claims that the final rule exceeded the Department’s statutory authority, finding that that there was nothing about the term “gainful employment” in the Higher Education Act to suggest the Department “can’t call employment unprofitable when a student remains in high loan debt.” The court also rejected plaintiff’s argument that the final rule was arbitrary and capricious, finding, in part, that the Department’s thresholds for its debt-to earnings metric, when applied together, were “more than reasonable.”
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The deadline for the 2023-24 data cycle for Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) data reporting and the evaluation of the Completers List is due September 30, 2025. Additionally, reporting for the 2024-25 award year is due by October 1, 2025.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid issued a reminder to institutions of higher education that Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) data reporting for the 2025 cycle began on July 1, 2025, and runs through October 1, 2025. Notably, the deadline for the 2024 cycle for reporting and the evaluation of the Completers List was extended to September 30, 3025, and the draft Completers List for the 2025 cycle will be generated shortly following. Institutions will have at least 60 days to make any corrections to their data after the list is issued. The announcement included several resources for institutions in compiling their data.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) in response to the notice from the Department announcing the possible formation of negotiated rulemaking committees. The letter welcomes efforts to address the regulatory swing between different administrations and emphasizes that there has been significant cost and confusion as campuses attempt to repeatedly understand and implement radical shifts in regulatory requirements within a space of only a few years’ time. It offers suggestions and considerations for (1) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) student loan repayment plans; (2) refining definitions of a qualifying employer for the purposes of determining eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program; (3) reporting Requirements under Section 117 of the HEA; (4) Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency (GE/FVT); (5) bundled services guidance; (6) financial responsibility standards; (7) administrative capability; and (8) certification procedures. The letter concludes by emphasizing how requirements on institutions to meet state licensure requirements for every state in which they enroll students will be immensely difficult to manage for any program with a distance education component and represents a problematic expansion of federal regulations in a way that runs contrary to innovative distance education.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid (the Department) announced that it extended the reporting deadline for the financial value transparency and gainful employment (FVT/GE) rule. Specifically, it extends the deadline for evaluation of Completers Lists and debt reporting for the 2024 cycle, as well as for submission of corrections to prior reporting. The “Department does not plan to produce any FVT/GE metrics prior to the new deadline and will take no enforcement or other punitive actions against institutions who have been unable to complete reporting to date.” The new deadline is September 30, 2025.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
Order granting Defendants’ Consent Motion to Stay Proceedings. Plaintiffs, the American Association of Cosmetology Schools and the Duvall’s School of Cosmetology L.L.C. filed a complaint in December of 2023 against the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) that alleged the proposed gainful-employment rule would jeopardize the “very existence” of cosmetology schools by way of its allegedly flawed measurements and encouraged the court to block the regulations from taking effect. Under the Rule, which took effect in July 2024, plaintiffs alleged that most cosmetology schools would fail, and that the Rule is arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, and unconstitutional. Pursuant to the challenged gainful employment regulations, the Department must complete two years’ worth of calculations under the regulations’ two performance metrics before any gainful employment program could lose Title IV eligibility. Due to the impending deadline, defendants sought a 90-day stay of proceedings to allow for incoming Department officials in the new Administration to become familiar with and evaluate their position regarding the issues in this case. The Court granted defendants’ Motion to Stay, and they have 90 days to file a response outlining their position on a set of regulations, with the new deadline of May 16, 2025.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid (the Department) announced that it reopened the reporting process for debt and other information until February 18, 2025, while the completers list associated with Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) is being used to calculate median earnings information. The announcement also identifies common issues seen by the Department during the reporting process and provides information on how institutions can address those issues, as well as what steps an institution should take if it is unable to timely complete debt reporting.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced the termination of the negotiated rulemaking process for three Program Integrity and Institutional Quality issues that were part of a rulemaking process for Federal programs. The Department has decided not to make any regulatory changes on the issues of accreditation, state authorization, and cash management at this time, to allow for additional evaluation of recent changes in other regulations and industry practices. After reviewing feedback received during the negotiated rulemaking process, the Department determined that it needed to gather additional data, assess evolving industry practices, and evaluate whether existing regulations remain necessary or require modification.
Topics:
Accreditation | Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced the annual earnings threshold used to calculate earnings premium (EP) measures as part of the Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) regulations. The Department notes that a program passes the EP measure by demonstrating that the median earnings for program graduates exceed the appropriate State or national earnings threshold.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
