Yesterday, the Department of Education issued a press release on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM):

“The Obama administration today proposed a broad set of rules and definitions to strengthen the federal student aid programs by protecting students from aggressive or misleading recruiting practices, providing consumers with better information about the effectiveness of career college and training programs, and ensuring that only eligible students or programs receive aid.”

The NPRM addresses the following issues:

• Making only eligible students (students with a high school diploma or can pass a test) can access federal funds

• Strengthening current rules to protect potential students and taxpayers against aggressive recruiting tactics

• Clarifying courses that are eligible for financial aid, as well as the appropriate amount of aid

Noticeably the NPRM lacks one issue: Gainful Employment.

“The Department is still developing metrics to hold programs accountable for preparing their students for gainful employment. We intend to publish a separate NPRM later this summer.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said: ‘We have many areas of agreement where we can move forward. But some key issues around gainful employment are complicated and we want to get it right so we will be coming back with that shortly’.”