The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) sharing the results of a survey of 355 colleges and universities identifying their challenges with the January 15, 2025, deadline for reporting requirements in financial value transparency (FVT) and gainful employment (GE). The Letter recommends that the deadline be extended from January 15, 2025, to July 15, 2025, considering 40% of survey respondents reporting that the guidelines are unclear.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced the availability of a new resource page on the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Training Center that consolidates Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) training information in a centralized location. The training information is intended to assist schools with understanding and complying with the FVT/GE regulations and processes and includes several pre-recorded webinars, presentations, and links to additional training resources.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education asking for additional clarification regarding the process for meeting the Department’s financial value transparency (FVT) and gainful employment (GE) reporting requirements. The letter further requests an additional extension beyond the initially granted extension deadline of January 15, 2025. The letter also suggests a webinar Q&A to support institutions and ensure clarity and compliance.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
The U.S. Department of Education created supplemental training resources for the Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) process in response to feedback and commonly asked questions from schools. The resources offer additional assistance and guidance for complying with the reporting requirements and a review of the FVT/GE Completers List via the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) electronic announcement regarding transmission of the revised draft Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) Completers List to schools. FSA announced that it planned to remit the List over the weekend of Oct. 26-27, 2024, through GEFVCMOP to each school’s Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) TG mailbox, for all institutions enrolled for NSLDS FVT/GE reporting. The GE/FVT is used to calculate debt-to-earnings (D/E) and earnings premium (EP) measures, which will factor into GE determinations. Schools have until Jan. 15, 2025, to review and correct student information on the revised draft FVT/GE Completers List.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
The U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid Office announced an updated timeline for its Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment Reporting and Completers Lists. After concluding multiple listening sessions, the Department chose to issue an amended timeline, and under this new timeline institutions will have until January 15, 2025, to provide all requisite FVT/GE reporting and to review the Completers’ Lists.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
Letter from the American Council on Education (ACE) and 21 other higher education associations to the U.S. Department of Education requesting a delay in all reporting requirements related to Financial Value Transparency (FVT) and Gainful Employment (GE). Citing the challenges institutions are currently facing related to implementation delays with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the letter urges that the Department delay all reporting requirements related to its new FVT and GE regulations beyond the current deadline of July 31, 2024. Drawing on a survey sent to member institutions conducted in collaboration with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), the letter also lists a number of areas of institutional challenge for the Department to consider as it develops sub-regulatory guidance.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
Order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a former student in an online master’s degree program at Grand Canyon University who sought to become a mental health therapist, on behalf of herself and a putative class, brought RICO, and California False Advertising Law (FAL), Unfair Competition Law (UCL), Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), and unjust enrichment claims against the University and multiple individual officials after she completed the program and learned that it would not be accepted by California licensing authorities. Plaintiff alleged that University counselors and staff assured her both before and after enrolling that the program would meet her needs. The court dismissed her RICO claim because she had not plausibly alleged that the defendants conducted a separate, distinct enterprise and because she had not alleged they had committed at least two acts of racketeering activity. It permitted her FAL, UCL, and CLRA claims to proceed, however, finding she had alleged with sufficient particularity that false or misleading statements about the University’s professional programs’ accreditation were targeted at current and prospective students. It also permitted her unjust enrichment claim to proceed, finding the University’s enrollment agreement was outside of the scope of the pleadings.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Admissions | Compliance & Risk Management | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment | Students
Comment Letter from the American Council on Education (ACE) and 47 other higher education associations to the U.S. Department of Education on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (GE), Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, and Ability to Benefit. In the 15-page letter, higher education associations expressed multiple concerns about the proposed expansion of reporting obligations related to debt-to-earnings ratios and earnings premium rates, the burden of this reporting, the requirement for student acknowledgments if a program fails one or both tests, and the proposed inclusion of these metrics in Program Participation Agreement certification decisions. The associations also urged the Department to work with NC-SARA to address consumer protection requirements through the reciprocity agreement rather than to require all institutions to meet all state consumer protection laws related to closure, recruitment, and misrepresentation in all states in which they offer distance education.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Gainful Employment (GE), Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, Ability to Benefit (ATB). In addition to requirements for certificate programs and degree programs at private for-profit institutions, the new regulations would also collect and report information from all institutions on costs, typical borrowing amounts, earnings, and licensure data where applicable. Update: On May 19, the Department published the NPRM in the Federal Register. Comments are due on or before June 20, 2023.
Topics:
Accreditation, Authorizations, & Higher Education Act | Higher Education Act (HEA) | Program Integrity & Gainful Employment
