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More than 800 programs failed the U.S. Department of Education’s accountability standards for its new gainful-employment rule, and risk losing federal student-aid funds, the department announced on Monday, and about 98 percent of those programs were offered by for-profit institutions.
Monday's announcement represented the first time the department had measured career-training programs against the debt-to-earnings benchmarks set out in the new rule. It’s unclear whether the Trump administration will continue to enforce the regulation.
Institutions that ran afoul of the rule fit into two categories:
- Over 800 programs failed the standards by having graduates with annual loan payments that exceeded 12 percent of their total earnings or 30 percent of their discretionary income.
- Some 1,239 programs received a “zone” rating, a slightly lower level of concern, meaning their graduates’ annual loan payments were 20 to 30 percent of discretionary income or 8 to 12 percent of total earnings.
- Programs that fail in two of three consecutive years or are given “zone” ratings for four consecutive years are ineligible to receive Title IV student-aid funds, according to department guidelines.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/over-800-programs-fail-education-dept-s-gainful-employment-rule/116378
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