Department Confirms July 1 for New GE Disclosures + Delivery Process

Ed.Cooley.com

Despite hopes that the US Department of Education might delay the expanded Gainful Employment disclosure requirements as it has done for the two past years, ED announced recently that covered institutions must meet these new requirements as of July 1. The directive covers all proprietary institutions and every public and non-profit institution that offers diploma or certificate programs.

As part of the Gainful Employment (GE) Rule, institutions are required to publish certain data elements to prospective students and the public using an ED-mandated template. Although the content of the prescribed disclosure template has changed every year since the requirement was published, it has generally included information on program length, cost, median debt, placement rates and state licensure status. The disclosure must be made available through a prominent, direct link on any webpage that contains “academic, cost, financial aid, or admissions information about a GE program,” in all promotional materials and through individualized delivery to each prospective student prior to enrollment. The last two elements were set to become effective in July 2017, but upon the change of administration, implementation was deferred until this year.

That delay has now come to an end.

The electronic announcement includes a detailed overview of the required processes. In short, institutions must include either the information required by the GE disclosure template, or a direct link to it, in all promotional materials that “identify a GE program by name, or otherwise promote the program.” Promotional materials are broadly defined to include – but not limited to – “an institution’s catalogs,…(continue reading)