Fardad Fateri Opinion: All Colleges and Universities Should Be Held Equally Accountable
October 25, 2023
The U.S. Department of Education has released new gainful employment rules that essentially target all programs offered by private, tax-paying colleges. The new rules do not apply to degree programs offered at public and private nonprofit institutions, which face zero accountability even though they represent the vast majority (80 percent) of college enrollment. As a national leader in postsecondary education, I welcome the Biden administration’s fervor for higher education accountability, but the double standard of gainful employment rules not applying to all programs— regardless of an institution’s tax status— is a fundamental flaw and a massive disservice to students and taxpayers.
The gainful employment rule was intended to ensure that college students attending certain programs secured meaningful employment after graduating, and without incurring too much debt. Under this rule, institutions falling short of that mark would lose their access to federal financial aid programs. The newly proposed regulation suffers from the same fatal design flaw from previous versions that the Department of Education has yet to address. It was applied selectively, almost exclusively targeting tax-paying institutions. This targeting led to skewed results.
