ESEA/NCLB Conference Finished, Vote in House Expected

Posted on November 19, 2015

House and Senate conferees finished their work on an agreement to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law today. Members are hopeful that the conference package can clear both chambers by the end of the year. Both parties have been critical of the last reauthorization law (which renamed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to No Child Left Behind), which expired in 2007, for being overly prescriptive and limiting state and local agencies from prioritizing their needs. The Education Department has issued waivers from the law to many states, but also required states to adopt certain policies and standards pushed by the Obama administration. States losing their waivers, such as Washington State, has been a hot political issue.

Final legislative text is expected in the coming days, in order to give all members of Congress time to read the negotiated measure over the Thanksgiving break.

House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN) who also led the conference committee, said he expects the House to vote on the package on Dec. 2 or Dec. 3. The Senate is expected to take up the measure after the House acts.

Moody’s Tuition Survey Assumes New Norm

Posted on November 19, 2015

Declining enrollment, state tuition caps and affordability concerns are among the drivers of what Moody’s Investors Service is calling a “new normal” for U.S. colleges – minimal year-over-year growth in net tuition revenue, or the amount colleges make off tuition after distributing financial aid.

Moody’s said in its annual tuition survey that it expects last year’s 2-percent growth rate – the weakest in the survey’s history – to continue into the next academic year. About two in three public universities will see less than 3-percent growth in fiscal year 2016, though the financial impact will be partially offset by increased state funding.

Many private universities, meanwhile, are offering even higher discounts, with freshmen paying a little more than half of listed tuition. Less recognized colleges and those with niche markets, like law schools, facing the most pressure to keep prices low.

There’s also a geographic element to the new normal: While universities in the South and West are projecting stronger tuition revenue growth due to large and growing populations, lower high school graduation rates in the Northeast and Midwest have left those institutions more vulnerable.

International students could provide a financial buffer for some of those institutions. Those students comprise just 7 percent or so of U.S. college enrollment, but universities with strong national and global brands are still working to lure those who have the ability to pay full tuition.

Ed Takes Aim at Accreditors

Posted on November 6, 2015

Today, Dept. of Education officials announced a series of actions centering on transparency in an effort to force accreditors to focus more on student outcomes and hold failing colleges accountable. For the most part, the accrediting agencies will not be required to change their practices. Instead, ED hopes to drive change by publishing and disseminating a wealth of information about accreditors and the colleges they oversee on a revamped department web page. One definite change accrediting agencies will have to make: submitting decision letters – which the department will then publish online – when they put institutions on probation.

GI Benefits Returned Because of Bad Actors?

Posted on October 21, 2015October 5, 2016

Last week, The Defense Department’s chief of voluntary education, Dawn Bilodeau, recently placed the chain of for-profit colleges on probation and said no new active duty service members can enroll under its tuition assistance program. The University of Phoenix is the most popular destination for Post-9/11 GI Bill college goers. This prohibition could be a hot topic today as an education advisory committee to the Veterans Affairs Department Secretary gathers for a two-day meeting starting today. Bilodeau sits on the advisory committee and the University of Phoenix has RSVP’d for the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Education Department has been working with the Defense and Justice departments on an ongoing investigation. University of Phoenix President Timothy Slottow recently wrote to hundreds of thousands of alumni and students to defend the schools’ track record.

The Defense Department’s action does not affect veterans using the GI Bill. And yet, some veterans advocacy groups say the VA should be more aggressive about cutting off GI Bill dollars when schools have deceived students.

It is possible that the meeting will address whether GI Bill recipients, who attended the now-defunct chain of Corinthian schools, should have their benefits reset, which would require congressional action.

University of Phoenix Being Investigated

Posted on October 9, 2015October 15, 2015

The Departments of Justice and Education announced they are are coordinating on on-going investigations of the University of Phoenix a day after the Pentagon barred the for-profit school giant from recruiting on military bases and placed it on probation for alleged recruiting violations.

The Department of Defense took the action after the University of Phoenix, among other things, used military “challenge coins” when recruiting troops. The commonly used and given coins—which are bigger than a silver dollar and often have unit insignia—are often given by those in the military to one another for a job well done or to commemorate an event. The University of Phoenix used trademarked seals and insignia on their coins without the consent of the military, which appears to the crux of the issue. Phoenix has said it has since stopped using such coins.

In June, the Department of Education said it had established an interagency task force, led by Under Secretary Ted Mitchell, to help ensure proper accountability for and oversight of career colleges and for-profit institutions.