Final Observations from the 2014 FSA Conference

The final two days of the 2014 Federal Student Aid Conference contained a full slate of training and information sessions hosted by the Department of Education.

On Thursday I attended a breakout session discussing the Department's financial literacy resources. Representatives from the Department shared interesting data regarding the general level of financial knowledge possessed by postsecondary students. For example, the Department's studies indicate that students often borrow more than they expected, and that if they could do things over again they would borrow less and begin making student loan payments while still in school. The speakers emphasized three key concepts that students should understand - budgeting, borrowing and repayment strategies. The Department has a variety of financial awareness counseling tools available to students and schools. These include the Financial Awareness Counseling Tool (FACT), a repayment estimator (www.StudentAid.gov/repayment-estimator), and a Financial Aid Tool Kit (www.financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov).

The Conference included a breakout session explaining the gainful employment program disclosures. The Department representatives reminded attendees that the gainful employment disclosure requirements are already in place. The federal court decision from 2012 that vacated most of the prior gainful employment regulations left intact the program disclosure requirements.

Schools are required to continue making their gainful employment disclosures in accordance with the current regulations until December 31, 2016. The information to be disclosed includes:

•       Occupations

•       Normal time to complete program

•       On-time graduation rate for completers

•       Tuition & fees, books & supplies, room & board

•       Placement rate for completers (as determined by State or Accreditor methodology)

•       Median loan debt

•       Other program information provided by the Secretary

The Department provides a gainful employment template that schools are required to use in making these disclosures. The Department released an updated disclosure template in September 2014.  Schools have until January 31, 2015 to update their gainful employment disclosure statements with information from the 2013-14 award year.

The speakers reminded attendees that the gainful employment program disclosures must be included in all promotional materials about such programs. Promotional materials include invitations, ads, course catalogs, social media, etc. that mention or otherwise refer to a specific gainful employment program. If it is not feasible to include the template, then schools must include a live link or URL to the materials and clearly explain what is available at that Web page.

The Department is working on the transition from the current disclosure requirements to the requirements of the final regulations issued on October 31, 2014. The effective date of the new disclosure requirements is January 1, 2017, which gives the Department time to conduct consumer testing and prepare a new disclosure template.

I next attended a breakout session addressing schools' compliance requirements related to Clery Act reporting. This included a review of the schools' annual security report requirements. The speaker emphasized that  the annual security report is more than just the disclosure of the yearly crime statistics. The report must include three year's of campus crime statistics, include all required campus safety and security policies and procedures, and be distributed annually to all students and current employees.

The speaker also discussed schools' obligations under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). The new law requires expanded reporting for incidents of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking (including cyber-stalking). The law also requires that the annual security report include additional information about policies, procedures, and training programs aimed at sexual assault prevention and response. New programmatic and training requirements include awareness campaigns, primary prevention, risk reduction and bystander intervention, and specialized training for adjudication officials. This session ended with a discussion of the requirement for schools to certify that they have developed and implemented a drug and alcohol abuse education and prevention program.

My attendance at the 2014 FSA Conference concluded by attending the Birds of a Feather session for for-profit institutions. This was a question-and-answer session with Department representatives and conference attendees representing for-profit institutions.

As one might expect, most of the conversations centered on the new gainful employment regulations. Some participants asked whether the Department might grant any exceptions or perhaps conduct more program reviews as an alternative to the new regulations. The Department’s response was essentially that the regulations are now final, and schools will be expected to comply under the letter of the regulations. The Department representatives also emphasized the necessity of schools to begin compiling their data as soon as possible to that the student information is timely reported to NSLDS by July 31, 2015.

The Department representatives indicated that additional guidance of interest to for-profit schools will be coming soon. This includes updates to the Clery Act handbook to provide additional information to schools as they work to implement the new disclosure requirements related to VAWA. School representatives suggested that the Department provide additional educational opportunities such as specific Title IX training, and Department representatives seemed receptive to this idea.

In summary, it was a very educational week in Atlanta. It will be interesting to see how many of these issues evolve over the coming weeks and months, particularly as it pertains to gainful employment reporting and compliance.