For those trying to sort out the details of the new federal regulations, referred to as “program integrity” rules, the U.S. Department of Education launched a Q&A website this week. Here, you can find out how the much-debated gainful-employment rules will work.
The gainful-employment rules released in June are designed to force career-college programs (mainly at for-profit colleges) to be more transparent and accountable. Under the new regulations, a program can lose access to federal student aid if too many of its students fail to find “gainful employment” as defined by three measures linked to loan repayment and income.
The hope is to better inform potential students about the potential benefits of programs and keep them from going into deep student-loan debt that they can’t afford to repay, a common problem cited by critics.
The Dept. of Education site also covers common questions on incentive compensation for college recruiters, state authorization for postsecondary educations institutions, retaking coursework after failing, credit hours, ability-to-benefit rules for non-Native English speakers, misrepresentation by education institutions, fees and graduate success, return of Title IV funds for students who withdraw, and satisfactory academic progress policies.