Yes, gainful employment rules were watered down in response to the for-profits’ huge lobbying campaign, writes Ed Sector’s Kevin Carey on Brainstorm. But this is a huge step toward accountability for all colleges.
For half a century, the federal government has been handing out untold billions of dollars to colleges with no real quality-control mechanism other than “if you’re accredited by someone, somehow, we trust you.” Now, for the first time, it has decided to judge colleges not by their inputs and processes but by what actually happens to their students after graduation. And if student outcomes aren’t good enough—if they can’t pay back their loans on time or can’t get a good job that provides a decent salary—then colleges won’t have access to massive amounts of taxpayer support.
. . . Once the Department of Education settles into this new role and establishes procedures for collecting data about employment outcomes, it will be hard to un-settle. Parameters can be adjusted and new methods of asking important questions about student outcomes can be developed.
This is bound to affect all colleges, Carey writes.
I agree. If the feds are providing loans and grants to college students who can’t repay the money, what it does it matter whether they enrolled in a for-profit, private nonprofit or state institution?
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at 6:47 am
[...] all that tough. But the precedent has been set — and soon the Education Department will be tracking outcomes for all colleges before handing out loans that won’t be [...]