US Education Department To Clarify Controversial Regulations
January 25 2011 - 11:54AM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Department of Education will issue clarifications on a
series of higher-education regulations it released last fall,
succumbing to pressure from colleges that say the rules are too
complex to be implemented as published.
The agency will release "Dear Colleague" letters in an attempt
"to answer questions we've heard about the regulations," deputy
under secretary James Kvaal said. The topics to be addressed will
include incentive compensation and state authorization, two
particularly thorny issues for for-profit colleges.
"Dear Colleague" letters are published by members of Congress
and various agencies to garner support for various initiatives, to
alert employees of maintenance outages in government buildings, and
to clarify rules soon to be put on the books.
The Education Department in late October issued 13 new rules,
set to go into effect in July, addressing issues such as how
colleges should measure a credit hour and possible punishment for
misrepresenting information about a school's credentials.
Some of those rules aren't being challenged. But schools say
it's unclear who is restricted from receiving bonuses under the
incentive-compensation rule, which is intended to ensure recruiters
don't enroll underqualified students to meet bonus targets. Many
say they don't know whether the rule also would apply to football
coaches who bring in top athletes or even chief executives who
improve student retention and graduation rates. And state
authorization, which would change the way state governments review
school programs, could put a heavy burden on schools with online
operations across the country.
The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, a
for-profit college-trade group, filed a federal lawsuit Friday
requesting the Education Department be barred from implementing the
rules as scheduled, at least until it addresses some of the trade
group's concerns. The group, known as Apscu, represents more than
1,500 career colleges and took particular issue with the incentive
compensation, state authorization and misrepresentation rules.
Meanwhile, the Education Department is scheduled to release the
14th and final rule, dubbed "gainful employment," some time this
quarter. That regulation could punish certain programs for
graduating students with high debt loads, an attempt at ensuring
they train their students for legitimate jobs.
That rule has been the most controversial, and its issuance was
delayed after the Education Department received more than 90,000
public comments in response to an early proposed version.
-By Melissa Korn, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2271;
melissa.korn@dowjones.com
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