Amid FAFSA debacle, colleges confused about Biden’s gainful employment demands
Breccan F. Thies
April 8, 2024
Universities around the country only recently received revised student financial aid data after months of delays — and the Biden administration is also requiring them to provide new employment metrics without telling them how to comply.
Traditional universities, trade schools, certificate programs, and other forms of continued education are under the gun to provide the Department of Education with data points proving their worth to prospective students, known as “gainful employment” and “financial value transparency,” but the department has not issued guidance informing schools how to provide the data by the now-extended Oct. 1 deadline. The previous deadline was July 31.
Those demands come on the heels of the Biden administration’s botched rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, application, which saw months of delays and errors. The Biden administration was accused of not providing schools with the data necessary to make students financial aid offers until the end of March — six months after schools normally get the information they need.
“Moving the deadline is a half-baked solution to problems the department itself created,” Bob Eitel, president and co-founder of the education-focused Defense of Freedom Institute, told the Washington Examiner.
