Department of Education Rule Package in Final Stages Before Adoption

Duane Morris

August 22, 2023

On August 16, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education sent the gainful employment and financial value transparency rule package to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget. The proposed rules broadly apply to all eligible programs and institutions. This is the final administrative review stage for the rule and the last opportunity for institutions and other interested stakeholders to provide feedback on the rule package by scheduling EO 12866 meetings.

As drafted in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the rule would have a significant economic impact on for profit, nonprofit and public institutions as a result of the proposed disclosure framework. The financial value transparency portion of the rule would require student disclosures, and in some instances student acknowledgment, for programs with high debt burdens and low financial values. The gainful employment portion of the rule would also include sanctions, including the potential loss of Title IV eligibility, for programs that fail to satisfy the debt-to-earnings or earnings premium metric, which both portions of the rule rely on. For a description of the notice published on May 19, 2023, please see our previous Alert.

Throughout the rulemaking process, thousands of institutions submitted written public comments seeking modifications and recommending improvements to the proposed rule. The EO 12866 meetings with OIRA provide a final opportunity to contribute to the rulemaking process and to raise concerns about the proposed rule. Interested parties may request meetings through the reginfo.gov website. It is our strong recommendation that institutions schedule OIRA meetings and provide additional feedback to the Department.

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