Ed Department changes reporting requirements for online colleges

Higher Ed Dive

Laura Spitalniak

January 1, 2025

Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Education announced final regulations this week requiring colleges to report which students receiving federal financial aid are enrolled in distance education or correspondence courses.

• The distance rule will go into effect July 1, 2027, a year later than the department originally proposed. The change will give colleges the time needed to comply, the department said.

• The department’s action Monday notably excluded an expansion of eligibility for some federal TRIO programs to undocumented students. TRIO had been part of the bundle of draft rules along with distance education announced in July.

Dive Insight:

The Biden administration’s Education Department released policy proposals on several topics — including distance education — a year ago, as part of the negotiated rulemaking process. But negotiators failed to reach consensus. This allowed the department to independently release draft rules, which it did in July.

The regulations released Monday formalizes the definition of a distance education course as any class that uses a modality such as the internet or audio conferencing “to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor or instructors and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor or instructors, either synchronously or asynchronously.”

Under the rule, a student who is enrolled in “even one class that allows for distance education” would be considered a hybrid learner for reporting purposes.

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