Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report concluding: “We concluded that Western Governors University did not comply with the institutional eligibility requirement that limits the percentage of regular students who may enroll in correspondence courses. Therefore, the Department should require the school to return the $712,670,616 in Title […]
This month WCET is focusing on a complex component of student participation in higher education: financial aid. We are very appreciative of our friends at the National Association for Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) for providing two blog posts giving us a great background on the topic. Later this month we turn our attention to […]
As greater numbers of students move into online and competency-based education programs, we have seen new interest in understanding the Department of Education’s regulations. In particular, faculty and administrators seek to understand how the Department interprets rules requiring courses to include “regular and substantive interaction,” especially in distance and competency-based education. Those of us in […]
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.” – John Lydgate Abraham Lincoln referred to this quote after a difficult experience with another candidate. We are human. We don’t […]
WCET partners with the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) and the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) in creating a unified voice on pending federal regulations for today’s higher education students. By working together, we can have more impact on the process. We also avoid having competing priorities or contradictory recommendations. Today, we release a […]
Some new federal regulations may be coming your way and we need to make our voice heard. We need your help in addressing concerns in four areas: ensuring equity for financial aid, student identity, accessibility, and state authorization of distance education. The Higher Education Act This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Higher […]
February 26, 2014 New regulations and reporting requirements to help battle federal financial aid fraud for institutions that offer distance education are coming. No doubt, additional protections are needed tools to combat financial aid fraud. The distance education community needs to be part of the solution. However, the remedies need to be tempered so that […]
November 22, 2013 The Department of Education took the next steps in reinstating the federal regulation requiring institutions to demonstrate that they have the proper authorization to serve distance students in other states. Earlier this week the Department announced in the Federal Register its intent to seat a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee that (among other items) […]
In May, WCET sought your input regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement of a new round of negotiated rulemaking. Such “rulemaking” is the first step in the Department possibly creating new regulations or refining old ones. Most notable to the postsecondary distance education community was the renewed interest in the state authorization for distance […]
In mid-April of this year, the U.S. Department of Education announced an “intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed regulations for the Federal Student Aid programs…” Through this process, the Department is visiting or revisiting several issues that are near and dear to the hearts of those of us in the distance […]
