The committee plans to examine such issues as graduation rates, debt and default rates, how much money is spent on education versus advertising and marketing, and how that compares to other institutions.
Among several proposed rules to be finalized Nov. 1 and go into effect July 2011, the Department of Education would:
• Strengthen DOE’s authority to penalize institutions engaging in deceptive advertising, marketing and sales practices.
• Clarify states’ responsibility to establish how they approve and monitor postsecondary programs.
• Define a credit hour and establish procedures for accrediting agencies to determine whether an institution’s assignment of a credit hour is acceptable.
• Limit the amount of a program that can be provided by a school in an arrangement with another institution.
• Require that proprietary and vocational postsecondary institutions provide prospective students with program graduation and job placement rates and that colleges provide the department with information that will allow determination of student debt levels and incomes after program completion.
A rules summary can be found at www.ed.gov/news/student-aid-rules-protect-borrowers-and-taxpayers.
- Community College Jobs