Doomsayers have referred to growing debt from college loans as the second coming of the subprime crisis. They warn that an entire industry is on the verge of collapse, threatening to dash the dreams of over 3 million students on the rocky edges of debt.
The Department states that schools must meet one of three metrics to receive federal funding: at least 35 percent of former students are repaying their loans; the annual loan payment of a typical graduate does not exceed 30 percent of that graduate’s discretionary income; or the annual loan payment of a typical graduate does not exceed 12 percent of annual earnings.
The Department’s final rule was less harsh than the draft version: the final version postponed sanctions originally scheduled for 2012 until 2015, and it imposed a three-strikes-out-of-four-years policy instead of an immediate disqualification policy. As a result of the change, stocks for for-profit colleges
surged, with Strayer University gaining 15.4 percent and Corinthian Colleges edging up 29 percent since the publication of the final rule.
Although the final gainful employment rule is less harsh than the proposed version, it still will have profound implications for schools and the very students the regulation is designed to protect.
The Department of Education estimates that three percent of all programs are expected to fail to meet the Department’s metrics at some point, with two percent losing eligibility. Institutions with successful programs will have to take on the cost of educating students from failing programs, at the tune of $133 to $178 million per year.
The rule also imposes more than 261,000 annual paperwork burden hours, estimated to cost over $5 million annually, for postsecondary institutions.
The Department predicts the for-profit education sector will lose approximately $338 million in annual revenue due to the rule – and this estimate does not even anticipate resulting employment declines. The
U.S. Chamber of Commerce has predicted that the rule would result in 90,000-100,000 lost jobs.
These allegations
resulted in an investigation by Inspector General Tighe and caused every Republican member of the HELP Committee to
boycott its latest hearing on the gainful employment rule.
Nearly 300 members of Congress, including 58 Democrats, voted in February, 2011,
not to fund the implementation of the “gainful employment” rule. Members of Congress have
stated that it is within Congress’s power, and not the Department’s, to define “gainful employment.” The Department’s interpretation has exceeded its statutory authority and is undermining the original intent of the statutes giving it authority, which is to promote educational attainment.
Members have responded: Senator
Jim DeMint (R-SC) added an
amendment to the Economic Development Revitalization Act that, if passed, would rescind the gainful employment rule.
Rather than focusing on strict regulatory sanctions, the Department of Education should stay in its own lane. Its new rule keeps students, especially first-generation, minority, low-income students, from gaining access to higher education. That will only hurt their prospects for future employment.
This piece originally appeared in the University of Pennsylvania’s
RegBlog on July 9th 2011.