Gainful Employment Redux – Not Just for For-Profits Anymore
Kate Lee Carey and Shannon Noonan
October 26, 2023
The Department of Education released the final and official Gainful Employment rule on October 10, 2023. The final rule is substantially similar to the proposed rule released in May 2023, with a few exceptions outlined within this post.
With a potential government shutdown bringing into question the ability to meet the master calendar requirement, the Department of Education (ED) released the final and official Gainful Employment (GE) rule on October 10, 2023. The final rule is substantially similar to the proposed rule released in May 2023, with a few exceptions outlined below. Unless a court intervenes (a lawsuit is inevitable), the rule will be effective as of July 1, 2024. Notably, the final rule is only focused on GE and financial value transparency and does not include final rules relating to financial responsibility, administrative capability, or ability-to-benefit or certification procedures that were previously part of a bundle of new requirements proposed earlier in the year. These topics from the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) were published separately (and unofficially) on October 24, 2023. For more information on the proposed rules and the other topics, see this client alert from June 2023. GE clearly was the priority, and despite an abbreviated period to review the thousands of comments on the proposal, ED pushed forward with the new requirements, which will have wide-ranging impacts on all institutions of higher education – beyond just for-profit colleges.
