In the last several days, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) finally published three important updates on ED expectations under its extensive October 2023 Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment regulations...more
In this final edition of the year, we cover the following issues of import for educational institutions: - CFPB scrutiny of college-sponsored financial products; - Changes ahead for Title IV program participants and...more
On October 24, the Biden-Harris administration announced amendments to the regulations implementing title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). According to the fact sheet, the amendments are intended to allow the...more
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) recently surprised the higher education community with a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL GEN-23-03) that sets forth new guidance on third-party servicers with whom institutions of...more
UPDATE: On February 28, 2023, the Department updated the Dear Colleague Letter issued February 15, 2023 to establish a future effective date for the guidance, extend the public comment period, and extend the reporting...more
On July 1, 2021, several new U.S. Department of Education (Department) final regulations resulting from its 2019-20 “Distance Education and Innovation” negotiated rulemaking went into legal effect, although certain of these...more
For proprietary institutions subject to the 90/10 rule, President Joe Biden’s signing of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on March 11 reflects a major change in this revenue test that provides for-profit institutions and...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked renewed interest in offering online programs, both in the United States and internationally, as a means for students to continue their studies on an uninterrupted basis. The U.S. Department...more
The US Department of Education (ED) has issued an update to its March 5 guidance for interruptions of study related to COVID-19. The updated information is included as an attachment to the March 5 guidance, containing 10...more
On March 5, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education issued an announcement, “Guidance for interruptions of study related to Coronavirus (COVID-19),” to address concerns arising with respect...more
On 5 March 2020, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published an electronic announcement to provide guidance on compliance with federal student financial aid (Title IV) requirements in connection with students for whom...more
My colleagues and I have the privilege of advising numerous clients on income share agreements (ISAs), including universities, service providers, and institutional investors. So we were excited by reports that the U.S....more
Putting an end to a crisis that jeopardized access to Title IV to 80,000 California students, on Friday, Acting Under Secretary of Education Diane Auer-Jones wrote to the head of the California Department of Consumer Affairs...more
As widely reported in the news and as discussed in our recent webinar, on 22 July 2019 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) notified institutions that, as a result of the U.S. District Court ruling in NEA v. DeVos, ED's 2016...more
On Monday, July 22, 2019, the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that the Distance Education Rules that were originally scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2018, and were then...more
The Department of Education issued guidance yesterday that ED’s regulations prohibit California residents enrolled in distance education programs at out-of-state public and nonprofit institutions from receiving federal...more
With the perceived loosening of regulatory controls at the federal level, many states are stepping in with aggressive legislative and regulatory action. Leading the charge is California, where a legislative package of seven...more
In a surprise move on Friday, the Department of Education announced the portion of the proposed distance education rule relating to authorization of foreign locations of domestic institutions went into effect on July 1, 2018....more
As described in our previous posts about ED’s new Audit Guide for annual Title IV compliance audits, the new auditing requirements include expanded testing in many compliance areas, such as gainful employment, incentive...more
As noted in our previous blog post on ED’s new Audit Guide, for the first time ED is requiring that independent audit firms conduct extensive testing relating to Gainful Employment (GE) data reporting and mandated disclosures...more
On October 31, 2016, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published final regulations regarding teacher preparation programs, implementing the accountability provisions of Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and...more
Governor Jerry Brown has now signed into law Senate Bill 81, which included language amending the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (the "Act") to permit "independent institutions of higher education"...more
With a second court ruling in late June in favor of the U.S. Department of Education, the Gainful Employment Rules ("GE Rules") took effect on July 1, 2015. The GE Rules will, ultimately, provide new challenges to the...more
The US Department of Education ("ED" or "the Department") has decided against an earlier plan to send letters to every institution believed to be out-of-compliance (or rather, located in a state that is considered...more
Republican Senator Mike Crapo, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter last week to Department of Education (ED) Secretary Arne Duncan to raise several concerns with the...more