Dive Brief:
- As part of an effort to change how colleges represent their students' success, the Trump administration is asking institutions to provide complete information about graduate earnings by next February — but experts say that data won't be available on time.
- According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the requirement is connected to an effort by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to eliminate the "gainful employment" rule, which was developed by the Obama administration to require that for-profit colleges report their graduates' earnings compared to the amount of their student loans and other data. It was controversial because some saw it as penalizing for-profit and some community colleges.
- The change would now require that all higher education institutions report student earning information on the federal College Scorecard website.
Dive Insight:
While there is common agreement that higher education should be more transparent and detailed about outcomes of their graduates, there are very different ideas about how that should be accomplished and whether this new requirement is best or can be met.
Some experts say it will be impossible for institutions to gather and report the data by the November deadline, though the Education Department has said that it might only initially require earnings information for two to three years. However, that type of short-term data may hinder some institutions whose graduates may reach their full earning potential later.
There is also a potential problem collecting earnings information from graduates who did not get federal financial aid, which would require Congress lifting a ban on gathering that data.
Critics have said that DeVos should explain that earnings information isn't easily accessible. They say stronger regulations would be more valuable than more data, and that the effort is designed to lighten regulations on for-profit institutions.
This action is part of a broader effort by the Education Department to diminish or change a variety of Obama-era regulations affecting K-12 through college, including accreditation standards, the definition of credits, lender restrictions, affirmative action and regulations on distance learning.