Proposed Rule Regulating Online Education Now Open for Public Comment
July 31, 2024
On July 17, 2024, Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal published a blog post―“Update on Department of Education’s Postsecondary Education Regulatory Work”―that served as a triumphal “status update” of sorts on the Department’s numerous consumer-focused postsecondary regulatory initiatives to date and its plans for further regulatory action through the end of 2024. That blog entry previewed the contents of the July 24, 2024, notice of proposed rulemaking on program integrity and institutional accountability, making clear that this most recent package of regulatory proposals is a key part of the Department’s student protection goals, this time directed at the rapid growth of online education. In our assessment, the distance education regulatory proposals put forward in the proposed rule discussed below will likely impact a large portion of the higher education community now engaged in offering one or more fully online educational programs. For that reason, institutions should consider filing public comments addressing legal and policy deficiencies in the proposal, including describing unintended consequences or onerous operational impacts. The close of the comment period is August 23, 2024. According to the Department’s master rulemaking calendar, if a final rule is published in the Federal Register by November 1, 2024, it would be effective no sooner than July 1, 2025.
