Education on the Hill: Department of Ed Strikes… Online Programs?
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The Biden Administration praised online educational programs during the pandemic, and now they’re threatening hundreds of thousands of Americans online degrees. In February, the Department of Education unveiled a new rule to strengthen oversight of revenue-sharing agreements between colleges and companies that help operate online courses.
Yet, this new rule to strengthen oversight could have the opposite effect as colleges are gearing up for compliance. Targeting online education will affect millions of Americans and negatively affect the quality of these programs. Additionally, this could eliminate access for many lower income students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get their degree.
Chairwoman Foxx warned the Administration that blanket compliance will not fly. She said, “it is reckless for the Department to suggest providing access to online education is a main driver of federal student loan debt. Instead, innovations in postsecondary education, including online education, have broken through access barriers for many adult learners.”
This isn’t the first time the Department has skirted traditional rulemaking process, and schools have until this fall to comply.
Read more at the The Free Beacon.
What’s New? Education Department to Review Deals Between Colleges and Online Degree Programs: The Education Department said it would review whether a 2011 provision that allows universities to share their tuition revenue with for-profit online education companies.
Department of Education Will Use Secret Shoppers: Higher Education is the route to economic security for many. But, unfortunately, some colleges take advantage of people looking to improve their prospects. In an effort to deter and catch bad actors, the Department of Education is answering the call from many advocates to establish a secret shopper program that will discourage and reduce predatory practices in higher education. Yet, no one knows how the Department will implement these shoppers or what comes next.
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FOXX SIGHTING: House Education Chair Talks Oversight, Blocking Student Loan Forgiveness:“The Biden administration does not have the authority under the bill that they’re using to forgibe what could amount to as much as a trillion dollars in loans,” she said. “The Democrats always talk about fairness, fairness, fairness. Well, that is not fair in my book.”
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TOP-ED: Congress Wrong to Target Private Colleges
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What We Watched: Chairwoman Foxx will join a distinguished panel at Axios’ Shift Toward Skills-Based Hiring on April 19.
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The Biden Administration is selectively promoting Borrower Defense to Repayment (BDR) loan forgiveness at career colleges and continues to look the other way as traditional school advertise 98% placement rates that often include volunteer work.
CASE believes that the federal government should apply BDR equally across all types of colleges. Read these student loan stories to see why loan forgiveness can’t just look the other way.
