Colleges will be held accountable for how much their graduates earn.
According to a press release, colleges, universities, and short-term certificate programs across the nation will be required by the U.S. Department of Education to show that their graduates are making more than high school diploma holders. In addition, graduate programs must prove their students earn more than the typical bachelor’s degree holder.
These changes fall under the Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and Earnings Accountability rule.
This requirement was described as a “low bar” by Michael Itzkowitz, the president of the HEA Group, an organization that researches higher education policy, per KQED.
“If you’re going to college, you expect to be earning at least minimum wage, and probably even more than that,” he continued, according to the outlet.
If institutions or programs fail to meet the requirements for two of three consecutive years, they will lose eligibility for the federal Direct Loans program. In addition, if they fail to meet the requirements for three consecutive years, they will no longer be eligible for Title IV Higher Education Act programs, including Pell Grants, per the release.
“The Trump Administration is hitting the hard reset button on higher education and implementing commonsense reforms that will drive down the cost of higher education and hold all institutions, regardless of sector, accountable for low earnings outcomes,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent in the press release. “If a program cannot show that it leaves its graduates financially better off than if they had never enrolled, it should not be underwritten by federal taxpayers. Amid rising rates of default and delinquency in the $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio, this new accountability framework is a responsible policy that will safeguard American taxpayer dollars and protect students from taking on unmanageable debt for programs that cannot demonstrate a reasonable return on investment.”
