Department of Education Extends Data Reporting Deadline and Reiterates Intent to Implement the Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment Rules
April 3, 2024
On March 29, 2024, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona heeded the call of a bipartisan group of senators, the American Council on Education and numerous other influential higher education constituencies by extending the institutional data reporting deadline from July 31, 2024, to October 1, 2024, for the new financial value transparency (FVT) and gainful employment (GE) rules.
In its recent announcement, the Department provides the following revised timeline for reporting of FVT/GE data:
Data entry start date: Institutions will have the ability to start reporting FVT/GE data through the National Student Loan Data System starting July 1, 2024.
Hard deadline: Institutions will have until October 1, 2024, to provide all required reporting (revised from prior July 31, 2024, deadline).
The announcement was a welcome development. The 2024-25 FAFSA rollout has been fraught with errors and delays, causing unexpected time and resource challenges for many institutions. The two-month extension on the FVT/DE data reporting deadline, however, is unlikely to quell concerns that the technical transition to the new FAFSA system will continue to require additional resources and attention―by both institutions and the Department.
On March 29, 2024, the Department also published a FVT/GE overview Dear Colleague Letter that provides a detailed overview of the FVT/GE regulatory frameworks. This is the first FVT/GE related guidance document the Department has issued since the final rule was published in October 2023. The Department plans to publish frequently asked questions related to the FVT/GE requirements in the near future. It will also establish a new “Topics” page on the Knowledge Center that will include policy and operational information about the FVT/GE requirements, including reporting requirements. Finally, the Department announced that it still intends to publish the first official round of FVT/GE metrics in “early 2025.”
