Gainful Employment Dates Pushed Back for Eligible Schools and Programs

HEAG California, Community Colleges, Compliance, Federal Student Aid Programs, FL, MA, NY, PA

Submitting GE

Schools which have eligible programs, usually considered “career training,” that are required to report gainful employment (GE) information got some unexpected news on March 6th. The original deadline for submitting the GE alternate earnings appeal for a program to get a passing rating to the Department of Education was March 10th, 2017 which the Obama administration had firmly set. Under the Trump administration, that date has now been pushed back to July 1st, 2017. Also, the due date for the latest GE templates was April 3rd, 2017 which has also been pushed back to July 1st.

The revised timeframe will allow institutions the chance to prove they were unfairly assessed under rules requiring that graduates’ loan payments do not exceed 20% of their discretionary income or 8% of their total earnings. The Department states “this action is taken to allow the Department to further review the GE regulations and their implementation.” As the Department of Education’s inspector general, Kathleen Tighe, testified before a House committee , the purpose of gainful employment is to help weed out

“poor performing programs, and it really is designed to protect students but also to protect taxpayers whose investment, the amount of money we spend in federal education money is enormous, and we want that money to be well spent.”

Congressional Republicans have signaled that the Trump administration may be leaning towards scaling back gainful employment rules as a whole although nothing yet has been officially announced. Some schools have even sued the Secretary of Education, claiming that the current rules are unfair for certain careers such as barbers and acupuncturists. Former Republican Congressman, Steve Gunderson, now head of the trade association, Career Education Colleges and Universities, has praised the news. Gunderson

“said he recently met with top Education Department officials to push for the delay and to argue that the gainful employment regulations, which also apply to career-training programs in public and nonprofit schools, should cover all majors or be eliminated entirely.”

Need Help?

HEAG will continue to bring you the latest information on the requirements for gainful employment reporting your institution may be required to perform. If you need assistance with any part of the process, please email mailto:cking@heag.us .

Sources:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/03/07/delay-gainful-employment- deadlines

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/for-profit-colleges-renew-efforts-to-destroy-key- accountability_us_58c68e5ee4b0a797c1d39ee3

https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/030617GEAnnounce105AddtlSubTimeAEAand GEDisReq.html

https://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/011917GEEA103Releaseofthe2017GEDisclosure Template.html